Mother!
by Mizudoriko
Summary: Karura had no reservations of sacrificing herself for her youngest son, giving him the "ultimate protection". Too bad that the power of a mother's love belongs in the Potterverse instead of Suna. And whose great idea was that a sociopathic and very much dead teen would be the perfect guardian to a demon container with an unstable demon? Watch out Suna! Here comes chaos incarnate!
1. What do you mean I'm dead!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the cover image, or any of the references that may be mentioned throughout this fic. I do own the idea, though.**

* * *

It is a dark and stormy day.

The clouds hang in front of the moon like a curtain and rain pours down from the sky. Lightning flashes in the distance, illuminating the silhouette of trees like twisted monstrosities of hands, grasping for the sky. The ground is wet, slippery and dyed red like blood by the flashing lights of an ambulance.

The Sirens of many police cars scream, rending the air with their cries.

So did many people.

Soon, blood actually pollutes the water, spreading like a plague through the clear liquid. It is a beautiful sight, like when you drop red food coloring into a glass, the dye exploding in a vicious cloud of red. But this time, it's on the hard asphalt of a road, the black stones glittering with rain and blood mixed together. It also occasionally flashes purple when the blue lights shine instead of the red ones.

I know,

It sounds seriously cliche and boring. It isn't as if we all haven't heard some sort of story like this before. And guess what?

This happens on Halloween.

Honestly, there must be some higher being that's finding enjoyment in this.

Things like this don't just _happen_ to people.

Here I lie on the ground, on the grass of some poor person's lawn, no doubt they are one of the many people screaming right now. My eyes are half open, I have already lost control of my limbs due to blood loss, so giving the finger to the sky is out of question. Not to mention that it would bring my sanity into serious questioning, though the excuse of being delirious due to blood loss might work.

Every breath I take comes with sharp stabbing pain from my left chest area. Sharp stabbing pain, well that's rich, I literally got stabbed and I'm experiencing _stabbing pain._ Yes, puns, they make the world go 'round these days. I hear someone talking to me, trying to reassure me that I am perfectly alright as hands grasp my body checking my vitals.

I am not alright

It's honestly too late people.

One doesn't simply survive being stabbed through the heart.

Oh lord, the memes, the _memes_.

Ok, I've gotten that out of my system now, along with the puns.

I have already accepted my fate, it had been decided as soon as the knife pierced me. I'm not in a panic, I'm fine as I am. Really, I am absolutely fine, well, as fine as a person can be after being stabbed in a very important organ that is vital for functioning. Which isn't very fine at all when all things are considered.

Honestly.

I'm sorry?

Mom? Dad?

Anyone?

Goodbye…?

Yet I'm still here, my mind crystal clear and working overtime trying to deny what is happening to me at the moment. I had been just walking across the street with my group of friends. The excitement was high, my blue eyes probably were sparkling with unholy glee. We all had pillowcases full of candy and we're going to our homes. My hair was dyed blood red, and my costume immaculate. All in all, it had been a perfect night of trick or treating.

It was also pretty late.

But this is my first time celebrating Halloween and I wanted to stay out as long as possible.

My friends and I all dressed up as some random anime characters from this new popular anime that just came out. We'd planned all of our costumes accordingly and spent weeks on them. Mine is composed of a long white kimono and blood red hair. Since my hair is actually a light brown, I had to dye it the shade of red I wanted, and it came out a pretty well. Our parents drove us to one of the neighborhoods and dropped us off there, telling us to be careful.

Be careful...

Funny how that turned out with me being stabbed through the heart by some random person in front of my horrified friends. One of them screamed, and people started running away into houses yelling. Someone called the police and ambulance, they had sounded hysterical, I don't blame them for it though. If I were in their place I'd be hysterical too.

Luckily for me, whoever did the deed wasn't a professional, only a small part of my heart was damaged. My lung, however, was another story. I could live with one lung though, a heart is kinda necessary for my continued survival. One thing I can't live with, however, is that they ruined my costume! I had put so much work into it too? Now it's stained with blood and I probably wouldn't ever get it out. Good thing I won't have to live with it much longer, I'll probably die in the next few minutes. But hey, no matter how cliche my death is, it still is pretty cool, right?

Too bad the bleeding couldn't be stopped.

Oh people tried, they really did.

But nothing worked.

The ambulances can't arrive fast enough, the police are there to ensure that the panic that ensues wouldn't hurt anyone else.

But I'm still dying.

From blood loss if nothing else.

And it hurt like hell.

It's funny how in the last moments if your life that you start thinking clearly and contemplating your last few precious moments of remaining life.

I, for one, am annoyed with my predicament.

Like really, I go and try to have fun with my friends this one night of the entire year only to get stabbed by some crazy person. And now I'm dying?! Someone tell me that this is just a horrible cliche horror movie with the "strong" female protagonist nearly dying and then surviving. But no, some entity from on high has it for me, I'm not cheating death today or anytime soon.

So yes, I am just going to lie here with my lifeblood flowing out of me while I reflect upon my thoroughly messed up life.

Cheerful thoughts indeed.

Why am I still alive?

This hurts goddamnit!

Oh, here we go…

* * *

" _..."_

"This must be a joke."

" _..."_

"A joke I tell you!

" _..."_

"Oh, come ON!"

" _..."_

"Fine, be that way all-encompassing-darkness-that-apparently-is-supposed-to-be-the afterlife!"

" _..."_

"And now I am talking to myself, a sure sign of insanity and I've been here for like how long? Less than a minute?"

" _..."_

"If this is the afterlife I demand a refund, after dying like that surely I deserve something better than whatever this is."

" _..."_

"[And no one answered]-am I going to be stuck here narrating everything that is happening to me? Because the narration would compose of absolutely nothing."

And then, from somewhere far, far away I suddenly hear…

" _Please...let me see my child's face…?"_

"Errr...sure mystery lady?"

" _He's...so...tiny"_

"Ummm...I am living under the assumption that all children are tiny. So unless he belongs to a race of giants or something, he's obviously tiny."

" _Please, whatever god may be listening, protect my son…"_

" I'm no god, but O.K. lady, whoever this child is anyway...So can I see now? Because I can hear you and I don't like being ignored. I just had a traumatic experience of being stabbed to death."

" _..."_

"I take that as a no. No points for dying a gruesome death, would giving you all my Halloween candy count?"

" _..."_

" I guess not that either, really who doesn't want candy?"

" _Lady Karura's heart rate is dropping!"_

"Are they talking about me? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure my heart has stopped a while ago, and who is this Lady Karura anyway?"

" _Do something, quick!"_

" Hello people? Am I officially dead or alive? Doing anything, quick or otherwise won't work, unless I'm in a coma and this is one of those moments that coma patients can hear what is going on around them."

" _No..no..nononoNO!"_

" De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt you know…"

" _Why?!"_

"Hmmm? Well, there is also this thing called denial. It would seem that you've built a hut firmly on the other side of it. Not a mansion, you haven't gotten there yet, so it is just a hut. You should be proud."

" _Why did it have to be her?"_

"Equivalent exchange mortals! Fullmetal Alchemist is making a comeback! Wait what do you mean about 'why did it have to be her'? Although Fullmetal Alchemist is good too, just not so much when you've tried to bring someone back via Alchemy."

" _Lady Chiyo, please leave us, and take that child with you too."_

"Chiyo? Karura? What? Why is this familiar? Eyes! I command you to open!"

Oh, it actually worked. I should have done this earlier…

Meh, it doesn't matter too much, I can SEE now.

* * *

I looked at my surroundings for a bit, this was not where I died. Sand is everywhere, sand over there, and oh, sand over that way too! Basically, it's very sandy and boring with a bunch of hospital equipment. Did I survive? Why am I in a sandy hospital building, it really isn't a good place for injured people. Standards obviously need to be upped, and this place is also really cramped.

Then I looked at myself.

Oh. My. Lord. What. Has. Happened. To. Me.

I am still in a long white kimono, and my dyed hair is in the hairstyle I put it up in. My chest had a red patch over it, upon further inspection, I find that the stab wound is still there and still very fresh looking. Surprisingly, even with what seems to be blood continuously dipping out of the wound, it's dry. The scarf I am wearing is free of blood, so I rearrange it a bit to cover the spot. I don't need people to start asking what the heck happened to me at inopportune moments, maybe later to freak them out though.

I come to the conclusion that I am still very much dead.

Though having translucent limbs may have convinced me of that fact.

So the undead is out, no zombies, vampires, or inferi.

I'm a ghost?

Ooh, can I float things? Can I, can I?

On a more serious note, I believe I know where I have ended up, the Narutoverse.

In. Suna.

It doesn't really take a genius to figure it out, the copious amounts of sand, the Yondaime Kazekage Rasa, Sasori's grandmother, and the hitai ate along with people decked out in full shinobi gear. Either this is really good cosplay, or it is a reality. And I can't see any of these super serious people even considering cosplay. Maybe I should get them to loosen up a bit, just not at Karura's deathbed. That would be extremely disrespectful, and I did like Karura as a character when I was still alive.

Normal people would be at emotional extremes right now.

They'd have died, woken up in an unfamiliar place, and figured out that they are very much dead.

Lucky for me, I'm not a normal person.

I've also watched the entirety of the anime version of Naruto, read too many fanfictions, and surfed the internet for interesting Naruto facts. So, it really isn't surprising that I have a sense of deja vu as I watch Rasa weep over his dead wife's body with Chiyo trying to comfort him. I find some satisfaction in his pain, never liked that guy, even with the excuse that it was all for the village, he did some pretty terrible things. Karura probably wants to strangle him for all that he's done.

Karura's dead.

She died when Gaara was born.

Conclusion, Gaara has just been born.

I look around the room a bit more, my eyes finally rests upon the small child that is being held in some random medic-nin's arms. I move closer to inspect the newborn Gaara…

Oh dear…

It would seem that I have made a new discovery.

No baby should be that adorable.

Or that tiny.

But he was premature...so I suppose there is a reason for his small size. Still, babies are supposed to be little demons, not adorable-

Oh,

Demons.

Haha.

Moving on...

I sigh and reach a single ghostly finger to poke the sleeping baby's face.

I had expected it to go through him, so imagine my surprise when it connected with a solid, and very much alive, cheek. My eyes widen while my brain went through all the different possibilities and ways to exploit them. Gaara then proceeds to open his eyes and give out a small cry.

It's all very adorable really.

Oh wait I said that already, whoops?

Though I doubt he has the energy to manage something louder, if I recall correctly, he'd always been one of few words in the anime.

Well, he did happen to be a sacrificial demon container, also known as a jinchuuriki. And people tend to disassociate themselves with jinchuuriki, causing them to be emotionally stunted. I'm not entirely sure on whether Shukaku is insane or not, he acts pretty crazy most of the time with surprising moments of seriousness. My theory is that Shukaku isn't insane, his personality is just like that, and when shit hits the fan, he becomes serious. So a note to self:

If Shukaku's serious then go in self-preservation mode level max.

The one time he seems sane is when all the bijuu are saved somewhere when Madara is trying to take over the world via the Tsukuyomi.

Bad times indeed.

After finding out that Gaara is an extremely adorable baby I move on to find out what else I could do. I try floating objects, all to no avail. I even try to hug Rasa, I did not succeed, much to my relief. My dislike for him stems from his inability to be a proper parent to the sand siblings. He didn't even bat an eyelash so I try punching him in the face. It doesn't work. Trying to mess with other people proceeded to yield the same results.

So people are out, objects?

It turns out that I can't affect objects either, I just phase through them. I spent several minutes trying to lift a syringe, it didn't even budge a millimeter. I could definitely stab someone right now.

I've been a ghost for a few minutes and I'm already bored. Like is Gaara the only person I can interact with?

Only person…

No one else can see me.

I can't touch anyone without phasing through them.

But I can with Gaara.

Oh my, the possibilities of a floating baby, how hazardous~!

On second thought, that isn't really safe because Gaara is a major and very important character, killing him accidentally isn't a good idea. He is the future Kazekage and the only person that is capable of staving off my boredom at the moment. He is also the character that likes squishing people with sand. Thank god I'm a ghost, though I'm not too keen that the only person I can talk to is a mentally traumatized child.

Like when he starts off talking about his "Mother" during the chunin exams.

Mother…

They never did specify who the identity of "Mother" was, did they? People just assumed that it was Shukaku. It never was explicitly stated...this requires further thought. And he was a sweet child in the beginning right? Before Yashamaru traumatizes him and makes him mentally unstable? Also, didn't Shukaku start affecting him after Yashamaru dies? So the emotional upheaval Gaara went through caused the seal to weaken? Yashamaru, everything is your fault, along with Rasa because it was all his idea.

As I am pondering, the medic-nin finally regained his wits and left the room with Gaara. I suddenly feel a sudden force dragging me to the door, it's like someone tied ropes to my entire body and yanked. My feet float off the ground and I have no choice but to follow wherever the medic is going.

' _What are you doing to me?'_

There was no reply, it's not as if he can hear me, so it probably isn't him that the force is coming from. I look at Gaara reproachfully.

He had his eyes wide open, following my movements,

' _I really wanted to explore Suna, you know? Now I can't and it's all your fault~!'_

Gaara gives me a small happy gurgle and I completely melted.

Why me?

I hate children

But he's adorable…

Resist the urge to coo-resisttheurgetocooRESISTTHEURGETOCOO…

Resist. The. Urge.

I cooed at him,

' _I hope that you're happy you little demonic child.'_

He happily waved his arms back at me. The medic nin seems confused as to what made him so happy and so they walk faster towards a door down the hall. It's like they're trying to get rid of Gaara as quickly as possible.

Really.

They're all monsters for not seeing him as the adorable child he is, it's like they're blind or something…

…

Ok, I'll stop.

When they reach the door they opened it and went inside. I had to float in through the door because they shut it in my face, that rude bastard.

Inside is an incubation room containing quite a few other babies. I went around observing them while the medic-nin is talking to some of the nurses about what they are supposed to do with Gaara. It's all very boring so I ignore him in favor of trying to elicit a response from the babies. I had no such luck, instead, they start crying and wailing when my hands phase through them. I suppose that babies are more sensitive to the supernatural than adults. They still can't see me like Gaara though…

The medic left soon after giving the Kazekage's instructions to the nurses and one of them came over to settle Gaara in one of the incubators. He went to sleep soon after that, I suppose that being born is exhausting. They left, only to come in after he woke up and started crying for food. After feeding him and then leaving him again I try to entertain myself with making faces at people

It really isn't fun at all.

I've never been this bored in my entire life and death combined.

Just grow up already dammit, it's not fair that I can't go off to explore!

' _Man, I feel for all the tailed beasts, this is so boring and I can actually see plus sort of do things when they are confined to simply seeing whatever their jinchuuriki can,'_ I yawn _, 'I wish I could fall asleep...who knew that boredom can be so tiring?'_

* * *

Gaara's Mindscape

' _Huh, so this is what happens when I close my eyes for an extended period of time, good to know.'_

' _ **Why are you here human?'**_

I turn around, already knowing full and well who it is. I didn't forget about him, no, I've been waiting for him to announce his presence all along.

' _Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you Shukaku~'_

* * *

 **HA, cliffhanger...sorry people, but it was just a great place to stop. Don't worry, the next chapter shall be out in a few days.**

 **Also, to the people that have read my other fic, it hasn't been abandoned, just put on hold for a while because of this one.**

 **Reviews, constructive criticism, and ideas are welcome~!**

 **Thanks all,**

 **Mizudoriko~**


	2. Insanity? I think not

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any references. I only own the idea.**

* * *

 **Previously:**

' _Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you Shukaku~'_

* * *

' _ **Why are you here, human?'**_

I raise an eyebrow, examining the chains that held him in place, they are quite impressive,

' _So I'm not allowed to be here? Where is here anyway?'_

Shukaku doesn't look very amused at my flippant answer and strain at the chains a bit. However, he seems only annoyed at the moment, and really, humans never mattered that much to him, so..

' _ **Answering a question with a question is not an answer.'**_

I really hope he doesn't tear free of those chains and kill me again...but here goes 'cuz I'm an idiot with no self preservation,

' _Well actually, I asked two questions, and I really do want them answered.'_

Shukaku looks mildly surprised that a mere human would actually demand answers from him, a bijuu,

' _ **Hmmph...we are in my container's mindscape.'**_

Whew, he looks amused more than upset that I'm being rude. Maybe it's because I'm something interesting, I've discovered that boredom can be a great motivator,

' _You know, I've always been under the impression that you are supposed to be insane. But you are surprisingly down to earth right now.'_

Shukaku isn't laughing crazily or anything, he's just looking at me with a slight tilt to his gigantic head, I swear that he's staring at my soul.

Oh wait,

I'm a ghost so this is my soul.

Whoops.

Moving on after a somewhat lengthy pause on my part,

' _I'm his mother don't you see?'_

Yup, definitely explains my presence in Gaara's mind.

You can almost hear the crickets chirping, though there are no crickets in Suna.

Shukaku then throws back his head and laughs uproariously, after he calmed down a bit he replied,

' _ **His mother? Ha, you look nothing more than a child yourself! I spent nearly nine months with that woman, you do not have her chakra.'**_

He then leans down to closer inspect me,

' _ **You actually don't have any chakra…'**_

I sigh,

' _Thought as much, a spirit does not have physical energy...wait do I have spiritual energy? Like yin energy?'_

If Shukaku could move his limbs, he'd be facepalming right about now,

' _ **You're a spirit, of course you have spiritual energy.'**_

' _Then why did you say I have no chakra?'_

Cue Shukaku trying to facepalm again,

' _ **Because you don't, chakra is the mix of spiritual and physical energy.'**_

' _Oh. Spiritual energy is used in genjutsu, right?'_

' _ **Yes'**_

' _Awesome! I can use genjutsu!'_

He seems exasperated with my enthusiasm, I suppose that I'm only delaying the inevitable,

' _ **That still doesn't explain how you are my container's mother.'**_

' _Oh right, that. I never said that I am his biological mother, I'm his adoptive mother~!'_

' _ **I should just eat you.'**_ I didn't realize that a bijuu's face could look that blank, he's not impressed,

' _Don't you dare mister! I swear I'll give you indigestion for the rest of eternity!'_

Shukaku laughs again, this time the ground shakes with him,

' _ **HAHAhAHaHAhaha! You've got pluck I'll give you that, though from foolishness or bravery I do not know.'**_

I put a hand on my chesty, acting as if I am miffed by the very idea,

' _There is a fine line between being brave and being a fool, I think myself of both'_

' _ **Ooh~ A philosopher as well it would seem.'**_

I look up at the sky in exasperation. It's red.

' _So what do you do in here?'_ I change the topic...the current one seems to have exhausted itself.

' _ **Nothing, there isn't anything to do.'**_

I look at Shukaku with newfound respect,

' _How are you still sane?'_

If Shukaku had any eyebrows, one of them would definitely be raised right now,

' _ **You believe that I'm sane?'**_

' _Good point,'_ I replied, ' _So how about we play a word game to pass the time?'_

' _ **Hmmm? Sure, why not?'**_

' _Alright, it's called Concentration-'_

' _ **Concentration? What a stupid name'**_

' _Yes I know, here's how it goes…'_

' _Concentration_

 _Sixty-four_

 _No repeats,_

 _Or hesitation,_

 _Category is:_

 _Everything!'_

' _ **This is so stupid…'**_

' _You've said that already, now repeat after me-'_

' _ **C**_ _o_ _ **n**_ _c_ _ **e**_ _n_ _ **t**_ _r_ _ **a**_ _t_ _ **i**_ _o_ _ **n**_

 _S_ _ **i**_ _x_ _ **t**_ _y-_ _ **f**_ _o_ _ **u**_ _r_

 _ **N**_ _o_ _ **r**_ _e_ _ **p**_ _e_ _ **a**_ _t_ _ **s,**_

 _O_ _ **r**_ _h_ _ **e**_ _s_ _ **i**_ _t_ _ **a**_ _t_ _ **i**_ _o_ _ **n,**_

 _C_ _ **a**_ _t_ _ **e**_ _g_ _ **o**_ _r_ _ **y**_ _i_ _ **s:**_

 _E_ _ **v**_ _e_ _ **r**_ _y_ _ **t**_ _h_ _ **i**_ _n_ _ **g…'**_

' _ **Death,'**_ Shukaku started

' _Ghosts,'_ I countered

Shukaku grinned,

' _ **Blood'**_

' _Stab wounds,'_ I replied flippantly

Shukaku's grin grew even wider,

' _ **Corpses'**_

I rolled my eyes,

' _Sacrifices'_

' _ **Idiots,'**_ His smile disappeared and his brows drew closer together in annoyance

My lips twitched,

' _Demons'_

Shukaku is downright snarling now,

' _ **Mortals'**_

' _Sandy Wandy,'_ I said in a sing-song voice, still in the rhyme's rhythm.

' _ **Your life,'**_ Shukaku threatens, no longer amused

I drove my last barb home,

' _Your intelligence'_

' _ **SHUT UP,'**_ Shukaku roared

' _That isn't a thing,'_ I answered innocently, ' _Oh well, I guess I win then~'_

' _ **I don't care,'**_ He looks peeved, very peeved.

' _Alright, I'm just going to sit here then…'_ I sit down awkwardly

" _ **Do what you want.'**_

Shukaku still seems upset and I'm not stupid enough to anger a bijuu. Or I am, but right now is not one of those moments,

' _Ok'_

' _ **No, it's not ok'**_

' _You know, you're not that terrible.'_ That sounded so cheesy. And weird, I hope he isn't too offended...

' _ **Why, thank you human, your opinion matters so much to me.'**_

I ignored his overly sarcastic remark,

' _The insanity is just an act, isn't it?'_

It would seem that I've hit the nail on the head, Shukaku twitches but otherwise does not say anything,

' _ **...'**_

And suddenly, my messed up humor comes back full force and I try to remain silent as well while trying not to giggle crazily,

' _Mphtt...'_

' _ **Shut up, human'**_

 _'Yes, Shukaku...'_

My stay in this world got a whole lot more interesting.

* * *

 **Hello all, Back with another chapter~!**

 **I know this one is a little short, but the next on will be longer, I promise...**

 **Anyway, all constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Mizudoriko**


	3. Of demons and surprises

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

' _Gaara,'_ I say for the hundredth time, this has been going on for weeks.

"Ga?" I'm not sure if he's actually trying to say his own name or is just babbling nonsensical syllables…

' _Good enough I suppose,'_ he's just a baby, he'll start talking in his own time.

"Goo?" He's actually trying really hard to copy what I say, wait that means…

' _Say Mother, Mo-ther,'_

"Ma?"

' _Mo-ther,'_ I reiterate.

"Ma-ma?" Nope, sorry kid, it has to be Mother for this to work.

' _Mo-'_ I make sure to enunciate clearly, ' _-ther'_

"Mo!" Great, one syllable down and one more to go.

' _-Ther,'_ I say again

"Tha?" Close enough

' _Mo-ther,'_ I put the two together

"Motha?"

Is that what I am now? A moth?

' _Mo-ther, mother,'_ I give it one last try

"Mother!"

' _Too...cute...brain...overload-'_ I see why parents want their children's first words to be about them, I feel slightly guilty that I manipulated him into doing it.

Just slightly.

Now it's time to carry out my master plan...now where is Yashamaru?

* * *

Yashamaru walks in soon after Gaara's little outburst of attempting to talk.

Probably because Gaara was being loud, usually very uncharacteristic of him, unless it pertains to me in which he is very loud and enthusiastic. Although that may be because I actually play with him and keep him company when no one else does. He's a rather well-behaved child that's only seven months old.

Like really, he's a child people, stop treating him like a ticking bomb.

Well, he is like a bomb.

But that's Shukaku's fault.

When in doubt, blame it all on Shukaku.

Back to Yashamaru walking in, I hold out my arms to Gaara while kneeling on the ground,

' _Say Mother, Gaara~'_ I say while holding back laughter, this is going to be good, ' _Mother.'_

His face lights up as he crawls over as fast as he crawls towards me as fast as possible. I'd learned over the months that Gaara loves hugs. Probably because his short span of life has been devoid of human contact, and I really don't count as a human, not when I'm nothing but a spirit. But hugs from me are apparently better than other people hugging him, so he tries to get as many from me as possible. It's his way of making up for all the missed hugs.

I use hugs as a reward system for whenever he does something particularly smart or something I approve of.

Positive reinforcement people, it works.

"Mother!" Gaara cries enthusiastically holding his arms out for a hug. I hold him in a tight hug as he happily babbles nonsensical syllables. A smile of satisfaction forms as I watch Yashamaru face rapidly pale as he took in Gaara hugging air after his cry of "Mother". Gaara's biological mother was his older sister, and as such, he's in shock.

"G-Gaara-sama…" Yashamaru began weakly, "What did you just say?"

Gaara, overjoyed that someone is paying attention to him, clapped his hands together while proudly exclaiming his first word,

"Mother! Mother! Mother!"

Such a smart boy~

Yashamaru, on the other hand, pales even further when he hears those words while I cackle gleefully. Gaara is confused, looking between me and Yashamaru, he's probably wondering why we are reacting to his words with emotional extremes. Deciding that he approves of my reaction-in his mind, laughter is good-he waves his hands excitedly at me and starts to repeat his first word over and over again.

Yashamaru doesn't find this amusing, but hey, I'm the one that Gaara likes this time. Sure he likes Yashamaru as well, but this time I'm his favorite. If he had to choose between the two of us he'd definitely choose me over Yashamaru.

Take that Yashamaru! He's your nephew and he likes me more!

Oh right, I'm his mother...moving on.

After spending months with little to no human interaction, my sanity is bound to start deteriorating. While amusing myself with a baby can relieve some of the boredom, it gets old quickly and I'd have to find other means. One of those ways is talking to Shukaku. While he hasn't completely lost his marbles, he's pretty darn close. Spending about a century in a teapot's bound to leave a mark.

Despite all of that, he's a surprisingly insightful and wise person, being, thing? No, no, no, Shukaku does not deserve to be called a thing. He's a demon and demons are definitely not things. But yes, I talked with Shukaku most of the time. We played word games, told riddles, and sang insanely long songs. I remembered some pretty annoying songs and modified them, like one thousand bottles of sake. Shukaku hates that one and would usually complain when I sang it, he starts screaming at me if I shriek it off tune at the top of my ghostly lungs.

Looks like I found leverage to use against him.

Yes, it has now been scientifically proven, if you spend several months with a mostly insane demon, you tend to become partially insane as well. If you don't become insane then there's something insanely wrong with you, making you insane. There is no other way around it.

Is it wrong of me to say that I honestly enjoy Shukaku's company?

It is mostly the human's fault that the tailed beasts want to destroy them.

After all, humans kill each other all the time, so why does it suddenly matter when a tailed beast kills them? Because it is easy for the bijuu to slaughter all of them? Then what does it make humans with what we do to animals? Really, we are such hypocrites.

I had shared my thoughts on this matter with Shukaku, but he only looked at me with a strange expression on his face and didn't reply. I assume that is a sore topic, he is the one forced to spend centuries in solitary confinement after all, and don't bring it up again. Really, sentencing the bijuu to lifetimes of solitude is not helping the humans in forming any sort of peace with them. And borrowing their power? It's like an unusually smart animal sealed a ninja away and used their power. And if that ever happened to pass, it suddenly becomes not alright, but when it comes to bijuu it is justified?

Anyway, I went on a tangent there, Yashamaru is going to suffocate while if he insists on holding his breath.

"A-ah, your mother, I-I-I see...haha…" Yashamaru laughs weakly after he remembered that he needed to breathe, "S-so Gaara, what d-do y-you mean b-b-by mother?"

Ha, what else could he mean lowly mortal?

Oh no, Shukaku really is rubbing off on me, dammit he must never know or he'll lord it over me for the rest of my existence.

Gaara simply stares at Yashamaru, not comprehending his words or nervousness. His blank expression is rather disconcerting if one isn't well versed in all the minutiae of them. But if you're me, you know the meaning behind every single one of them. Like the one he's wearing now is his "what-the-heck-are-you-saying-I-don't-understand-your-adult-language" face. It fits well in this situation, he literally doesn't understand a word Yashamaru is saying other than that "Gaara" means him and "Mother" is something I like him saying.

He's only seven months people, he's still an adorable baby. Though he'd still be adorable even as a teen until he reaches fourteen or something. Then adorable wouldn't exactly fit...I need to find a word for it later, or I'd run out of adjectives to describe him. Right now, I consider his first word a great achievement on my part. Maybe his next should be Shukaku, I owe it to the demon and it would cheer him up. Not that he'd admit it to anyone.

So when Yashamaru asks him questions and expects him to understand it, it really doesn't make sense.

Logic, Yashamaru, it is something that a shinobi must have.

Gaara, being the sensible child that knows his baby talk won't get his message across uses his facial expressions to tell Yashamaru that he doesn't understand a single word that came out of his mouth. Too bad that Yashamaru can't even distinguish between his "I'm-happy" face and his "I-don't-like-what-you-are-doing" face. So when it comes to this kind of situation much is lost in translation and Yashamaru gets the message of: "I'm-a-demon-influenced-child-that-wants-to-kill-you-right-now"

Like really? No, Yashamaru, stop jumping to all the wrong conclusions!

"Gaara-sama?" Yes, Yashamaru is clearly unfit for the job of taking care of this adorable child.

"Ga? Gagagaga!" He's such a happy and hyperactive child at this age, though sometimes he's too quiet. He's also a tiny child, I'm worried that he won't be tall enough later in his life. Ah, the worries that come with motherhood.

Yashamaru relaxes, finally catching on that Gaara is not possessed. No demon would belittle themselves by stooping low enough to allow baby talk. It is considered beneath them to even try this as an escape method.

Believe me, if Shukaku ever tries this then the world is ending.

"Ra! Ra Ra!" Gaara is still trying, probably to make Yashamaru happy and stop looking constipated.

' _It's Gaara, Gaa-ra,'_ I say, Shukaku can have his third word.

He looks at me with bright teal eyes in intense concentration, he's going to want another hug for this,

"Ga? Ga-ra?"

I smile softly, ' _Gaa-ra.'_

"Gaara," he chirps back at me.

' _Good boy, you did it little one,'_ I ruffle his hair while he tries to stop me with an undeniably cute pout. He breaks down laughing when I tickle him to get him to stop.

Yashamaru looks confused as to why Gaara is suddenly laughing while seeming to try to bat away invisible hands. I should probably stop, don't want people to think that Gaara is insane. Though he really is kind of mentally unstable. It comes from an unstable childhood, there is only so much I can do to shield him from the horrors of this world. Thankfully, there aren't very many traumatizing that he can be exposed to at such a young age.

Yashamaru, being the kind of person he is, manages a small smile,

"Yes, that's right. Your name is Gaara."

"Gaara! Gaara!" I swear to god that children should not be that adorable. My previous experience with them is neutral at best.

The little horrors.

Yashamaru relaxes and tries to ruffle Gaara's hair, dismissing the previous oddness.

Keyword being _tried._

He didn't succeed as a shield of sand stopped his hand from ever reaching Gaara. He pulls his hand back quickly as if it had been burned while Gaara watched the sand with wide eyes.

Gaara's face fell when he saw the distant look on his uncle's face and started to cry. I don't blame him, children are often more perceptive than most would think. And I should know, I was one of them. The quiet kid in the corner of the classroom, always writing something in her notebook, drawing in a sketchbook, or just reading a book.

I pull Gaara into a hug as he cries, rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists.

" M-mother!" Maybe he actually does know what it means, or he thinks that it's my name and I taught him it so he knows what to call me like I taught him that he is "Gaara". It's probably the last one since it makes the most sense.

I glare at Yashamaru, while Gaara may not be my biological child, I did adopt him, dammit. This is not including the fact that being thirteen when I was alive meant that having children is the last thing on my mind. But as my adopted child, I'm actually fourteen years older than him at the moment, no one makes him cry without facing my wrath!

I try to console Gaara by patting his hair soothingly, but he keeps on sobbing.

This obviously does not sit well with me, and Kami help Yashamaru for what he has done.

I let go of Gaara and stalk towards Yashamaru, my fury rising with each step. Something in me snaps as unadulterated power floods my system. It feels heavy, nothing at all like my spiritual energy which is lighter than air. I look down towards my limbs, surprised to find them opaque and seemingly solid instead of it's normal translucent appearance. Armed with this new turn of events, I form a plan.

And then I see red.

I lunge at Yashamaru and the sheer speed in which I travel makes it look as if I teleported right in front of him. I hang in the air for a single moment, one fist cocked back as far as it could go.

Not holding back, I let it fly straight into Yashamaru's face.

It connects, his head snaps back and then is launched into a wall

Immediately afterwards he is upright again with one arm slanted in front holding a kunai, the other limb angled slightly behind the first.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

I roll my eyes, it's not as if I have control over that, besides even if I knew how I wouldn't be so stupid as to show myself to an ANBU level ninja. I may be a spirit, but surely there are ways to banish me from this plane of existence, there must be a reason that I haven't encountered any others like me. Or maybe the Shinigami is feeling lenient when I died, be it the former or the latter, I have no interest of "dying" again.

However, my previous actions gives me an idea, I draw upon my memory of the feeling of that unexplainable rush of power.

Seemingly from a great distance, I can barely hear Gaara's small proclamation of surprise at something.

I will myself to float upwards as I've always been able to do in this form and lean forward to whisper these words in his ear,

' _You will regret ever hurting my son, Yashamaru'_

This apparently is the last straw for Yashamaru since the events of the morning seemed to have been taking a toll on his fortitude for strange things happening around Gaara. After what remaining blood in the upper part of his body drained away at those words, he promptly fainted.

Gaara on the other hand, looks concerned that his uncle just flopped over like he died and is poking at him hesitantly. This manages to revive Yashamaru, who upon waking to his nephew's sand stabbing his side quite painfully, is now preoccupied with assuring an upset Gaara that he is still very much alive.

Yashamaru is now quite a concerning shade of grey, and he opened then closed his mouth several times before finally managing to ask the one question he had on his mind since waking up,

"K-K-Karura?"

I really didn't expect him to say that, though the "motherly" vibes I gave off while socking him in the jaw may have pointed him in a direction that I haven't even considered yet. It really isn't much of a stretch since Karura _is_ Yashamaru's sister and Gaara's biological mother.

The wheels in my head are whirring at impossible speeds right now, the possibilities of using this in my favor are endless. Mostly trolling the rest of Gaara's family, or maybe the entire village, Kami knows that they deserve it for all that they're going to put Gaara through.

But I can impersonate Karura and no one would know any better. It's not as if they can see me, so there is a chance of actually pulling this off.

This is going to be so much fun

Still needs planning though.

* * *

 **And here's the third chapter!**

 **Also, shoutout to TheOneKrafter for being the first reviewer~!**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Mizudoriko**


	4. This is Suna, right? Not Harry Potter?

**Disclaimer**

* * *

I realize that I can't stay inactive forever. I mean, if I want to continue my meager existence, then I have to take an active role instead of what letting everything just happen.

Like when Deidara blows Suna up and kidnaps Gaara.

Which ends up with him dying

And I kinda depend on him staying alive to stay in this plane of existence.

So, yeah.

I also realized that my knowledge of the plot is pretty important. Well, important until I mess the plot up so much that nothing happens the way it should anymore.

And I really don't want to find out what would happen to me.

I should probably make a list about the things that I should do and or prevent. I'd be much more organized, not to mention figuring out a goal before it's too late. So when everything goes to hell I'd at least be prepared and ready to do something about it.

Like when Madara shows up via Edo Tensei.

So here goes the list:

 **Make sure that Gaara stays mostly sane** -I'm pretty sure my existence in this universe is already taking care of that, I just need to be able to comfort him at the right moments.

 **Make sure Gaara doesn't die via Sasori and Deidara's little removing Shukaku incident** -That requires more planning and thought on how much I would royally mess up the plot if I prevent it. Like Madara is probably going to show up to take Shukaku, and I'm not sure how well I'll do against him.

 **Make sure to survive** -That's already a given, as long as I make sure Gaara doesn't die somewhere between now and the apocalypse that Madara almost brings about.

 **Learn some cool stuff while exploring the world** -All I need to do is survive and follow Gaara around, after all, he's a pretty important character to the plot.

 **Troll people** -Already on it, and doing a pretty good job of it, even if most of the time it is unintentional. I wonder if I'd be able to access a pensieve here, like if this universe exists, the Harry Potter verse must too, right? And being able to view these memories would be awesome, like Yashamaru's face when he thought I was Karura, they're priceless.

Perhaps another visit to Shukaku is in order, he's pretty knowledgeable, so he'd be able to shed some light on recent events.

And help me on some of the goals I've made.

Like, who knew that a bijuu would be useful for things other than being able to use their chakra? They are centuries old, so it should be obvious that they are knowledgeable.

I wonder what would happen if the bijuu were to learn fuinjutsu.

All hell would break loose.

An unsealable bijuu. HA! Take that puny mortals! Tremble in fear of their vengeance!

Wait, doesn't Shukaku know fuinjutsu?

So why hasn't he used it to make himself unsealable if he hates be sealed so much?

Gaara's Mindscape

* * *

' _Shukaku?'_

Shukaku, surprisingly, answers in an even tone,

' _ **What is it human?'**_

Taking his reply as an obvious invitation to continue, I ask,

' _What happened when I punched Yashamaru?'_

Shukaku pauses for a moment, as if considering his next words carefully,

' _ **It's complicated.'**_

And apparently it's something he doesn't want to tell me, oh well, a little more prying should do it...

' _Everything about me is complicated.'_

It would seem that he really doesn't want to tell me,

' _ **It would take a long time to explain'**_

And I'm swiftly losing my patience at his dancing around and avoiding the topic,

' _Shukaku, I'm literally a spirit that spends most her time staring at a wall or talking to an insane demon, I think I have enough time to listen to your explanation.'_

Now that elicits a reaction, maybe there is hope for this conversation after all,

' _ **I resent that, I'm not insane.'**_

I grin, it would seem that Shukaku has quite the self esteem issues, who would have thought? Well, actually it does make sense since he is the "youngest" of all the bijuu, the one with the least tails and presumably with the least power. Poor guy, he was probably picked on the most by his elder siblings.

But for the moment, no matter how I dislike poking at other people's insecurities, for me and Gaara's future survival, I need to use it to my advantage,

' _Try telling that to everyone else, they're under the impression that you're a bloodthirsty and insane demon. And frankly, they're not that far off the mark'_

I can practically see Shukaku deflate before me,

' _ **Can we not discuss my mental health? You bring it up in every conversation, and really, that's a lot of conversations.'**_

I give in, it's hard to watch one of supposedly untouchable bijuu crumble from simple jabs at his surprisingly fragile confidence,

' _Fine, be that way...'_

But I do have one last weapon, and it doesn't involve hurting his feelings, just his ears. I open my mouth and pray to Kami-sami for him to forgive the blasphemy against all music that I'm about to unleash. Shukaku, realizing what's going to happen next pales and struggles against his chains in a desperate bid to:

1) Run away

2) Cover his poor ears, they're about to be abused

3) Shut me up, hopefully permanently

' _One thousand bottles of sake on the wall~!_

 _Take one down and pass it around,_

 _Nine hundred ninety nine bottles of sake left on the wall!'_

Here I pause for a moment to take the time to cover my own ears, poor Shukaku he doesn't have that luxury as all his limbs are securely chained down,

' _NINE HUNDRED NINETY NINE BOTTLES OF SAKE ON THE WALL!  
TAKE ONE DOWN AND PASS IT AROUND!  
NINE HUNDRED NINETY EIGHT BOTTLES OF SAKE LEFT ON THE WALL~!_

 _NINEHUNDREDNINETYEIGHTBOTTLESOFSAKEONTHEWALLTAKEONEDOWNANDPASSITAROUNDNINEHUNDREDNINETYSEVENBOTTLESOFSAKELEFTONTHEWALL!-'_

' _ **STOP YOU EVIL BANSHEE OF A MORTAL!'**_

I didn't stop, instead, I continue over his words,

' _NINEHUNDREDNINETYSEVENBOTTLESOFSAKEONETHEWALL-'_ I'll just skip most of this, it's mentally scarring. Thank god Gaara's seal prevents him from hearing this, though when it deteriorates in the future, I won't be able to do this anymore. Oh well, I'll just figure something else out,

' _EIGHTHUNDREDNINETYTWOBOTTLESOFSAKEONETHEWALL!-'_

At this point Shukaku had started to contemplate the reason for his existence,

' _ **Why me? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE SUCH HARSH RETRIBUTION?! KAMI-SAMA WHY?!...nonoNONO...old man why did you…?'**_

Ouch, I think I'm giving him flashbacks of when he was little...The only person he'd call "Old Man" is the Sage of Six Paths. Now I feel terrible, I hadn't meant to pour salt over undoubtedly painful wounds…

' _Sorry..'_

I don't say anything else because I know that saying sorry isn't enough. It won't change the past and it doesn't create happiness. It's just a word. An empty word,

' _ **Oww...my ears, my poor, poor ears'**_

I raise an eyebrow, sudden moments of melancholy be damned. I have a purpose and I'm not losing sight of it,

' _Is it really that bad?'_

Shukaku glares at me,

' _ **Easy for you to say, it's not as if I could cover them you know!'**_

I laugh sheepishly,

' _Ah..hehe...sorry about that?'_

' _ **Why, why must you put me through that torture you call**_ **singing** _ **?'**_

Nevermind about his precious feelings, I can sing dammit, and who is he to tell me that mine is terrible?

' _I too can sing! Besides you're the only person that can explain anything at the moment. And really, the most interesting thing I have to do is trying to entertain Gaara.'_

Shukaku stares at me disbelief,

' _ **I rate lower than an eight month old baby?'**_

Alright, I've had it, dealing with a centuries old immortal being with such a childish personality is horrible for my nonexistent blood pressure,

' _Yes, now_ explain _and prove to me that you are not simply a pushover stuck in a poorly drawn seal_.'

Shukaku glares at me some more while he whines about the unfairness of idiot humans,

' _ **Fiiiiiiine, what do you want to know about the topic of why and how you are here in this world in the first place? And as a side note: I AM NOT A PUSHOVER YOU IMMATERIAL SACK OF FLESH! '**_

Finally, YES! Note to self: when convincing Shukaku to do things, use his pride against him!

' _Everything, all of it. Plus, how am I supposed to know that you're not a pushover? It's not as if you've done anything other than sit there and moan about the unfairness of your life. If you're not doing that then you're ranting about how awesome you are.'_

Maybe I'm being too harsh here...

' _ **I AM**_ **VERY awesome** _ **and explaining would take absolutely foreeeeeeever!'**_

Yes Shukaku, you are awesome, and you're Narutopedia page proves it, not that I'll ever tell you that,

' _Is that a sulk I am seeing?'_

He fakes an aghast expression with a over exaggerated gasp,

' _ **NO! Demons would**_ **NEVER** _**do something as undignified as**_ **sulking!** '

Shukaku really is too much sometimes, I laugh softly at his antics. I had just poked at some of his deepest insecurities and now he's trying to cheer _me_ up? I do believe that I've just found my first friend in this messed up world,

' _Awww, that's cute. But really, you're sulking.'_

' _ **Do you want an explanation or not?'**_

Damn, way to kill the mood Shukaku…well you know what to say: know when to pick your fights, and this is one I'm avoiding,

' _Explanation please!'_ I say in an cheerful voice

This seems to appease Shukaku as he began,

' _ **So what do you know about your situation?'**_

I close my eyes in concentration,

' _Karura, before she died, asked me or maybe it was someone else to protect her son'_

Shukaku lets out a gusty sigh, which for a bijuu with a wind affinity is very gusty indeed. Like really strong winds gusty,

' _ **I take it that you accepted?'**_

' _Umm..yes? I think I said yes to her request, I don't really remember much about things I determine as insignificant. Things I deem important is a whole other story.'_

' _ **That was your first mistake, you shouldn't have agreed. Maybe in another timeline and in another place you didn't say anything and the contract wouldn't have formed, Gaara would grow up and never meet you.'**_

Are bijuu aware of alternate universes? Because Shukaku's talk about timelines is scaring me...just how much does he know? The anime showed absolutely nothing about this serious side of him, the dark and unpredictable side. His true personality of a centuries old being who dedicated most of his existence to learning. I want his childish self back...

' _What? So if I said no, or didn't say anything at all I would have passed on?'_

Ever helpful, Shukaku replies,

' _ **Actually, no, you wouldn't have passed on. You were murdered, yes?'**_

I frown at the memory of my death, the clicheness of it still irks me,

' _Yeah, quite violently too.'_

' _ **It's as I thought, with such a violent and unrevenged death as yours, you'd have to remain in the world of the living as a malicious spirit.'**_

I gape at Shukaku,

' _What?!'_

' _ **You are a malicious spirit. People just assume that malicious spirits hate everything, they actually don't. Well, a few of them don't, it really depends on what they were like while they were still alive. '**_

Me, always looking to manipulate events to my own convenience, asks Shukaku,

' _What effects does being a malicious spirit have?'_

He doesn't look impressed,

' _ **You already have a disregard for most human lives, your current state just enhances it.'**_

' _Awesome!'_

Shukaku just looks at me like I grew another head, strange things happen to me so I suppose I won't be surprised if I did one day. Like evil spirits are supposed to be abnormal and deformed right? My preconceptions on this matter may have something to do with all the anime I've watched, they have very...creative...ways of presenting monsters and their ilk,

' _ **...'**_

Hoping that I haven't broken his remaining shards of sanity I backtrack, trying to explain my enthusiasm to him,

' _No really, it's awesome! I mean I've always known that I'm a sociopath with some psychopathic tendencies, but this new perk of being a malicious spirit enhances on of my most favored traits~'_

I've never seen a bijuu with a deadpan expression before, and trust me, it's quite a sight,

' _ **You like being a sociopath?'**_

I sigh, this is going to be one long conversation...and I still haven't pried a satisfactory explanation from Shukaku yet,

' _Well, I'm going to be one whether I like it or not and it is better to go with it than against it. Besides, it has helped me my entire life, I prize logic above all, that and common sense of course. Me being dead now doesn't change much than my status as a living, breathing human being.'_

' _ **I see…'**_

Deciding that it may be best to take Shukaku's mind of the horror that is understanding how my thought processes go, I change the topic back to my much needed explanation,

' _So yeah, we've established that Karura asked me for help and I accepted. I don't really regret it since its made my afterlife much more interesting. If I'd never landed here then I'd be haunting some boring neighborhood in the United States…'_

That grin, that insane and I'm-going-to-be-so-cheesy-that-you're-going-to-puke grin...need I say that it's disturbing?

' _ **Ahh, yes. A mother's love and sacrifice, a powerful piece of work indeed.'**_

And there I have it, the cliche that somehow just doesn't die. I know that mothers will sometimes do almost anything for their children, but really?

' _Don't tell me that Karura pulled a Lily Potter, 'cuz love is overrated. And besides, that belongs firmly in the Harry Potter universe, not Suna…'_

Shukaku now has an intense and you-will-now-spill-all-of-your-otherworldly-secrets-to-me-now look directed at me,

' _ **You know that I don't get the references that you're making, right? It's getting annoying.'**_

' _Welp, you're going to have to live with it, though I'll explain them later. Be prepared for one of the most cliche stories you've ever heard.'_

Suddenly less sure of the prospects of getting more information out of me he replies,

' _ **Ok… Yeah, sure. We'll leave that conversation as it is .'**_

I realize that our entire relationship is using each other to stave off boredom and have complex conversations in an attempt to get information out of each other.

And then it sinks in, horror blooms in my mind as I ask a very important question,

' _Wait, Gaara isn't suddenly now the "Chosen One" is he?'_

' _ **I don't think so, he isn't directly influencing any prophecies.'**_

Sweet, sweet relief thy name is No Pesky Prophecies. Those horrid things are a one way ticket to having a bunch of lemons dumped onto you by life and karma,

' _Whew, that's one bullet dodged. So Karura knew that she was going to summon a spirit and a malicious one too?'_

The bijuu snorts at the idea,

' _ **I'm pretty sure that you being here is unintentional. Kami decided to shirk his duty of answering prayers and his brother the Shinigami found the perfect solution in you. So they just stuck you here to deal with everything.'**_

' _WHAT?! Those lazy bastards… Wait, how do_ you _know this?'_

There's that grin again, but this time it means I-know-something-you-don't-and-you're-not-going-to-be-happy-about-this,

' _ **All the minor kami are gossiping about how "improper" the situation is, I just happened to be listening in on them. You'd be surprised at how much "confidential" information they spout off randomly.'**_

Gods exist here, interesting,

' _Wow, the rules sure are lax for the kami. How come I've never heard their conversations?'_

' _ **Sorry human, immortal beings only.'**_

I pout, this is so unfair,

' _I call bullshit on that!'_

' _ **Anyway, Karura's request was left too much of it open to different interpretations, so Kami just chose the one that requires the least work on his part.'**_

' _So I'm here because of a botched wish and now I'm tied to Gaara. All because Kami didn't want to do his job?'_

I do not like where this is going, at all...

' _ **Yup, pretty much.'**_

Well that confirms it, I'm an anomaly that didn't exist in this world previously. But there are more important questions to ask,

' _How does this relate to me being able to sock Yashamaru in the face?'_

Shukaku sighs again and replies in a patronizing tone as if he were talking to a small ignorant child. Which to be honest, I kinda am compared to him,

' _ **We have established that Karura tied you quite literally to Gaara right?'**_

' _Yes.'_ I reply numbly, this is a lot to take in…

And Shukaku is enjoying my reactions, or he won't be still explaining this to more. Unless he's going to drop a bombshell later on that's going to make me absolutely flip, chances are that it's the latter,

' _ **The connection works both ways, Gaara is also tied to you.'**_

' _What?'_ Yes self, a _very_ intelligent answer.

' _ **So you are able to take chakra from him, and since he can take chakra from me, you can also do the same.'**_

Oh. My. GOD. YES. Demonic chakra and awesome here I _come_!

' _AWESOME~! So does this mean that I can use the physical manifestation of your chakra? Like the tail thingies..'_

Maybe my enthusiasm was too much, that or he can't compute that someone would call his tails "tail thingies",

' _ **Tail. Thingies. You. What?'**_

When you die, you learn to enjoy the small things in the world of the living, like a speechless bijuu that may or may not be mad enough to kill you once they finally compute what you said,

' _Sorry, did I melt your brain? Is it glass now?'_

' _ **You're such an insolent human. And no, you can not use my demonic chakra.'**_

' _Why?'_

' _ **Unless you want to turn into some twisted mindless beast that only seeks to satisfy its hunger? Demonic chakra does not mesh well with souls, physical bodies are fine, souls mean more permanent and severe reactions.'**_

This floored me, being a spirit does not mean that I'm untouchable. If I were ever to come in contact with Shukaku's unfiltered chakra I'm as good as dead, again.

' _Oh, alright...I guess? Actually, it's_ not _alright! You're able to murder me by just touching me?!'_

Here Shukaku looks disappointed,

' _ **Actually, I can't. The only way you'd turn into an amalgamation of demonic and human soul is by taking impure demonic chakra inside of you. Getting hit with it does not do much, unfortunately.'**_

I sigh in relief,

' _Whew, thanks Shukaku! You're the best!'_

' _ **Says the person that was abusing my ears mere minutes ago.'**_

I frown,

' _I said that I was sorry!'_

' _ **Sorry means that you won't do it again, I can assure both you**_ **and** _ **me that you will do it again.'**_

Gaara, the adorable and most awesome child that he is, just woke up,

' _Well, I have to go now! BYE SHUKAKU!'_

Shukaku, as per usual, is amused that I'm trying to escape from his presence,

' _ **GET BACK HERE AND CONTINUE TO ENTERTAIN ME YOU UNGRATEFUL MORTAL!'**_

Which is basically code for, "you better tell me cool stories later or I'll never stop sulking".

Shukaku is such a child, but that's what makes him adorable in my book.

Oh dear god, when did I start thinking that all children are adorable?

Quick, conjure up a memory of horrible bratty toddlers!

Whew, they're still cringe worthy, so that means that the only children I think are adorable are Shukaku and Gaara, nevermind that one of them is actually older than me and decidedly _not_ a child.

I'm just weird like that.

* * *

 **Alright! Another chapter is done.**

 **I hope that you all enjoyed the longer chapter~**

 **Reviews and ideas are welcome!**

 **I know that this chapter contains a lot of information, but it was necessary to move the plot along...I promise that there won't be too many more chapters like this!**

 **On a totally unrelated topic, would you people like me to write about Rasa meeting the MC?**

 **Post 'yes' or 'no' in the comments for your choice (and ideas on how it should play out are welcome too!)**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Mizudoriko**


	5. Birthday Shenanigans

**Disclaimer**

 **AN: There is a time skip of about four months**

* * *

Today is the day, the day that I catalogue all that I'm capable of doing.

Which isn't very much.

Like, at all.

It's been a year and I can use Gaara's chakra to give myself a solid form now, I can also cast some subtle genjutsu on unaware civilians.

Though I can't stay in a solid form for anything more than half a minute.

It's also Gaara's first birthday~

I have the perfect present...but that happens later.

During the few months that have passed I made a small discovery, I can move more than a room away from Gaara now. This makes my practicing genjutsu much easier since I have vict-I mean test subjects to work with.

Gaara gets separation anxiety if I leave what I've dubbed the "comfortable floating distance" away from him. Which is basically when he can't find me in the same room as him whenever he checks for my presence. Apparently, he can sense me most of the time when I stay within a three meter radius of him. When I travel out of that zone, he freaks.

The first time he went hysterical and started screaming for me while crying loudly, which is very _very_ uncharacteristic of him. Yashamaru was not amused, in fact, it's more like he freaked out as well because of Gaara's out burst and that he believes me to be the spirit of his sister.

He's even tried to get Gaara to talk to me, which is an opportunity that I couldn't pass up...I had some choice words for Yashamaru. Gaara, being the awesome child that he is, parroted everything I said back to Yashamaru and sometimes asked me for meanings to words he didn't know. They were mostly the bad ones, so I skirted around them the best I could without actually telling him anything. But he got the gist of it anyway and knows for some reason I don't like Yashamaru. Yashamaru took the hint and never tried to talk to me again, the pansy.

I am extremely thankful that spirits don't have to sleep, or there'd be no way for me to practice my genjutsu and taijutsu efficiently.

I spend the days with Gaara, teaching him how to read and write.

With spiritual energy.

It's complicated, they're chakra strings, but spiritual energy instead of chakra

It helps my control.

So Gaara, with nothing more interesting to do but listen to me, is progressing steadily in his studies. In his eyes, I am the loving parent that he never had, I am everything and the world. But he is my child, technically, so he does have a parent...so maybe it isn't correct to say that I'm the parent he never had since I _am_ his mother.

On a far happier note, he can speak pretty fluently now, and I count that as a great accomplishment on my part. Not that it was hard with Gaara being so receptive and attentive...

He's also becoming quite the prodigy.

And he turns one today.

I am so proud of him…

My progress, on the other hand, is very sad. I've been trying to get Shukaku to teach me fuinjutsu, because honestly who wouldn't want to learn something so awesome? He refused. Apparently, if I want to get anything on fuinjutsu out of him my control must get better.

It's depressing, but there is truth in the saying, "No pain no gain". Especially in my situation since channeling chakra _hurts_. It feels like fire is running through my veins, or the ghostly version of my veins since I technically don't have any. And I'm only using a miniscule amount of Gaara's chakra. If only I just had to use spiritual energy, physical energy burns me because I don't have a solid form to sustain it.

I groan as I flop down on the floor of Gaara's nursery, teddy bears and stuffed animals of various sizes are scattered on every available surface. Let it be known that Gaara is a rather pampered small child. But it does make sense, his father is the Kazekage, the most important figure of the village. And Gaara is his weapon, one that needs to be convinced to be loyal to his village.

Children are simple minded.

But scarily perceptive.

I groan some more as I get back up to do my exercises over again. Damn you Shukaku! He's probably laughing at me from inside the seal.

Did I mention that Gaara is watching my torture with wide fascinated eyes?

No? He apparently decided that watching me suffer is far more interesting than playing with his stuffed animals. I agree with him, no inanimate stuffed animal shall ever be more interesting than I am, I will not allow it. And really, whose idea was that all children like cute things? Gaara certainly doesn't, or that may be me influencing his tastes in "playing" with "toys".

Playing usually includes him tearing those detestable bears into smithereens.

With his sand.

I have convinced Gaara that "toys" mean people.

He's not allowed to tear people apart.

Yet...

But messing with them is perfectly alright.

Yashamaru may have suffered more than a couple of heart attacks because of this.

Like yesterday for example:

* * *

"Gaara-sama" Yashamaru calls out in confusion, "What are you doing?!"

Gaara turns to look at Yashamaru, he gives his uncle a wide smile before continuing his destruction of all teddy bears with gusto. The stuffing from them flies everywhere, covering the floor in a thick layer of white.

Yashamaru is paling rapidly as he watches the scene from the doorway of the nursery,

"Gaara-sama! You must stop this at once!"

Gaara doesn't pay attention to the desperate cries of his uncle as I cheer his revenge against the evil minions of the Kazekage. Seriously, the only logical reason that Rasa keeps sending teddy bears all the time is that they're his secret ANBU minions disguised as innocent toys to spy on Gaara.

"Gaara-sama!'

Nope, still not listening to you Yashamaru~!

' _Come on Gaara! Destroy all the evil minions!'_ I cheer, pumping my arms excitedly.

Snap.

Tear.

Thump.

Wai-what?

Oh, it would seem that Yashamaru's poor heart gave out on him again...is he foaming at the mouth? I'm pretty sure that's not a symptom of a heart attack...does Yashamaru have rabies?

Nah, that isn't possible…

Anyway, he's on the ground again, looking as pale as a sheet of paper. And let me tell you, that is pretty serious since the village is in the middle of a freaking desert, the people tan here.

Gaara is an exception of this, I'm not sure as to why yet.

"Uncle?' Gaara's attention is finally focused on the prone form of his maternal uncle, "Are you alright?"

In the end, Yashamaru finally recovers…

I bet that he had something new to report to the Kazekage~! Too bad getting rid of him too would cause quite a few problems.

* * *

Oh, did I mention that Rasa is coming over today? Yashamaru told us, well Gaara but I'm included in everything Gaara is included in, that Rasa would be coming over to visit his youngest son on their birthday.

I think Yashamaru expected a more excited reaction from Gaara who's quite apprehensive about the entire event. It would be normal for an attention deprived child to be excited but for Gaara who is convinced that I'm the best thing since sliced bread, it's pretty lame. Especially since Rasa has never been around to leave a lasting impression on him.

So yeah, that's another thing that changed from canon.

I have work to do before Rasa arrives, for not taking care of his son like he should have, I'm going to give him a wonderfully wrapped wake up call.

But I need Gaara's cooperation for this to work.

Actually, it could work with a few nudges from me in the right direction...Gaara tells everyone and anyone that would listen about me.

I just need him to do that with Rasa…

Yes this could work~

A few hours later...

* * *

"Hello, Gaara." Rasa looks down at his youngest son in veiled distaste. And here I thought that he'd actually cared in canon, just that his position as Kazekage meant that he had to make some hard decisions…

Apparently not.

Challenge accepted.

Gaara looks up at his father with a blank expression, it's his I-don't-like-you-so-please-go-away look.

"Hello, Kazekage-sama." Good one Gaara! Be polite to a fault, they won't be able to blame you for that. Don't show any openings or personal connections…

"A-ah, would you please come in Kazekage-sama?" Yashamaru clearly feels that this is a bad idea, I disagree, it is time for some sweet retribution,

' _Gaara, tell that bastard to leave.'_

"Mother wants you to leave, bastard." Yeah! Go Gaara, you go tell him the rules~! I couldn't have asked for a better translator...I should stop laughing now, shouldn't I?

Rasa pauses, unsure if he heard his son correctly,

"What did you say?"

"Mother wants you to leave and she called you a bastard, bastard." Ooooh, this is too good...I need to remember not to laugh again or I'll distract Gaara, get it together-

"Your….mother?" Rasa doesn't know what to make of this. A prank? Nah, Gaara hasn't been exposed to the outside yet, too much of an innocent child. Reality? That had to be a scary thought for the man. Gaara's biological mother is his _deceased_ wife. And how scary is it that a child is revealed to be able to talk to your dead wife?

Disturbing, that's what.

Gaara is too young to be just making this up and that look on his face shows that he's serious.

Dead. Serious.

Yes, puns~

"Stop this farce at once Gaara."

' _Tell him that I blame him for my death and if he doesn't get out now I'll throw him out.'_ I smirk at Gaara's wide eyed look in my direction when I mentioned how Rasa is responsible for my "death".

His small childish face hardens in rage, Rasa has absolutely no chance of getting Gaara to form any attachments to him now,

"Mother says that she blames you for her death, and if you don't leave now she'll throw you out," Gaara pauses and then starts again as if he'd just remembered something, "Bastard."

Feel the buuuuuuuuuuurn Rasa, and guess what? This is from your one year old son!

"Sto-She what?"

Gaara frowns,

"Are you deaf?" Head tilt to the side, just like I taught him, "But that's alright, I know that you really aren't that bright, there isn't much lower that you could go anyway."

If I weren't already dead, I'd have died of laughter...just give me a moment to recover,

"And being the kind, cute, adorable, and polite child that I am," All words that I call Gaara on a regular basis, and they describe him perfectly, " I'll repeat what Mother wanted me to tell you."

He smiles, the one that he does with his eyes closed and lots of sharp pointy teeth on display, looking for all the world like a genuinely happy kid. Until you see the teeth, when you see the teeth you realize that he is the child of your nightmares, innocent until you open your eyes to the truth. Gaara only smiles like that when he's at the end of his patience and he's furious, another thing he learned from me.

On a totally unrelated side note: Why does it seem that most jinchuuriki have insanely sharp teeth? I want teeth like that~!

I smile when I'm extremely angry,

"She wants you out. Now. Because you murdered her you bastard."

Rasa looks like he's about to be sick,

"Y-you can actually talk to her?"

Gaara just looks at him like he's stupid,

"Of course, she's my mother, isn't she? And a mother's love is very powerful."

At this point Yashamaru has finally found his voice again,

"Kami-sama be blessed. Rasa-' He breathed, '-do you think a mother's love is powerful enough to keep her _spirit_ from passing on?"

Rasa looks at Gaara in wonder as he spoke with a hushed whisper, completely forgetting that I'd just threatened to throw him out,

"Gaara, child, can you tell me anything else that she's saying? Please, you have to do this!"

Aaand there goes the Kazekage's composure, let it be known that he loves Karura very much indeed. Gaara is further convinced that his father is a terrible person since he lost his cool so easily, that and he's practically ordering Gaara to do something.

A not commonly known fact about Gaara is, despite his shy demeanor, he can be quite harsh as shown in his immediate dislike of Rasa after the "he practically murdered me" part.

He's also stubborn.

I put one ghostly hand on Gaara's shoulder and he looks up at me in confusion,

' _I'll take care of this, just be a good boy and stay put, alright?'_

Gaara, this time, smiles a genuine smile,

"Alright~"

I stifle the laughter that's threatening to burst out as I walk over to the nearest wall.

Shukaku, I hope the idea you came up for me works the way it's supposed to…

The day before:

* * *

" _So Shukaku, Rasa's coming over tomorrow.'_

He snorts,

' _ **Great, remember to tell me to take a nap when that happens.'**_

' _I need help in pranking him.'_

Shukaku's ears prick up,

' _ **Oooh? Now we're talking~'**_

 **A few minutes later**

I remove my scarf from it's position around my chest, where it's covering the stab wound. I poke a finger in it and shudder, it doesn't hurt but it does feel weird.

I take my finger that's now covered in invisible blood and start writing

Shukaku's running interference with Gaara since the seals have already deteriorated to the point that he could talk with some difficulty and be heard.

I might want to do something about Gaara's separation anxiety, what if I need to do something important next time? I can't always count on Shukaku to stave off panic attacks…

I shake my head, focusing on the work I have on hand. I use the blood to write the messages Shukaku and I came up with to freak Rasa out:

 _ **I TOLD YOU THAT I'D PROTECT HIM.**_

 _ **WHY?**_

 _ **WHY DID YOU KILL**_ **ME** _ **?**_

 _ **IT'S ALL**_ **YOUR** _ **FAULT.**_

 _ **YOU'RE THE**_ **REAL** _ **MONSTER HERE.**_

 _ **YOU BETRAYED**_ **ME** _ **.**_

 _ **WHY**_ **ME** _ **?**_

 _ **WHY DID**_ **I** _ **HAVE TO DIE?**_

 **SAVE** _ **ME!**_

 _ **Please...I don't want to die**_

Satisfied with my handiwork, I float back to Gaara again, and through several walls. Upon seeing me, he buries his face in my kimono. I sigh, this may become troublesome. But for now, everything is alright, I can still protect him from the world.

From the horrible _horrible_ people of this world.

From the injustice of their undeserved hatred that would rest upon his small shoulders the moment he walks out the front door.

From the lies

The blood

War.

But when he walks through that door, there won't be anything that I could do to stop the hatred. All I can do is train and prepare for the day that he'll need my help. But before that, I'll stay beside him, offering comfort when needed.

This world is cruel.

They tear away the innocence of children.

This world is full of monsters masquerading as angels.

But I won't let that stop me…

There isn't much one can do to someone who's already _dead._

And really, they should know better than to invoke a mother's righteous wrath.

* * *

 **Another chapter done~**

 **Sorry about the cliffhanger.**

 **Though it did end in a rather depressing note...Rasa's reaction is in the next chapter!**

 **And yes, the MC (Main Character) is very vindictive. There's a reason for that which would be revealed later.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and reviewed, you're all awesome people!**

 **So what do you think of the chuunin exams? Imagine how messed up the plot would be by that point...(it's terrifying)**

 **Mizudoriko~**


	6. Happy Birthday!

**Disclaimer**

 **From last time:**

* * *

 _Shukaku, I hope the idea you came up for me works the way it's supposed to…_

* * *

I walk towards the wall covered in my blood, not that anyone but Gaara could see it at the moment. Thank Kami that he can't read well enough to know what it says yet.

Focusing on the link I share with Gaara, I form thin strands of spiritual energy and attach them to the letters written on the wall. Drawing upon chakra, I force it into the letters and watched as they unfurled into a vivid red, painting the wall for all the world to see.

Too bad the only people to enjoy my work of art is the Kazekage and his brother in law.

Making sure to not accidentally channel chakra in my body, I push more of it into the letters written upon the wall.

That should last for about a minute, just enough for them to read the entirety.

And in all it's grotesque lettering, Shukaku and I's prank glows eerily.

I turn around just in time to watch all two adults in the room pale. Each second that passes makes them an even paler shade than before. I see their hands shaking and their mouths twitching as they gape at the sight before them.

Rasa is the first to break the silence,

"N-no…"

"Kazekage-sama…" Oh? Yashamaru found his voice as well, it's surprisingly steady, maybe he's been exposed to the oddness surrounding Gaara too often?

"Yashamaru. What. Else. Do. You. Know. About. This." Rasa looks angry...good, I hope some blood vessels burst while he's at it.

"Nothing except the incidents that I told you. Never before has something of this scale happened."

Rasa turns to Gaara,

"What does your "mother" look like?" One can practically see the barely contained rage seething around the Yondaime Kazekage.

Realizing that this may go terribly wrong, I quickly dash towards Gaara.

If they hurt him, I'll make sure all of their throats get slit while they sleep,

' _Gaara, listen to me. No, don't look towards me, keep looking at Rasa and repeat after me.'_

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Gaara blinks once in confirmation,

' _Good, now say, "Mother has sand brown hair and indigo eyes. And she also wears a scarf." to Rasa.'_

"Mother has sand brown hair and indigo colored eyes." Gaara replies to Rasa's question, "She also wears a scarf."

Note that Gaara doesn't tell Rasa that the scarf is white and it wrapped around my chest area instead of around my neck like a normal person. Or it may be that he's so used to it that he doesn't even think that it's weird anymore.

I'll have to make it up to him later for lying to Rasa about what I look like, maybe he'll like several games or songs…

Thank Kami that children are easy to please.

Rasa clearly did not expect an answer like that since he visibly deflated before a _child_ and one of his ANBU.

Take that! I _do_ remember important things from the anime~!

If I didn't then...actually, I don't want to think about what would happen.

"Kazekage-sama, do you think that Shukaku knows what Lady Karura looked like and told Gaara?" Damn you Yashamaru! Way to mess all of my hard work up! Well, two can play a game, and I'm determined to win this one,

"Yes, yes, _yes_! That has to be it!" Rasa's clinging onto that hope like it's his last life line, but I'm going to cut it.

Kneeling down before Gaara, he tries to put the child at ease,

"Gaara, child, does your mother talk to you inside your head?"

Gaara frowns, confused and unimpressed at Rasa's cheap manipulations,

"No, she's right there," He points to me, "Don't you see?"

Realization then dawns on his face and you can practically see the lightbulb going off,

"Or are you secretly blind too?!"

This. Is. Just. Too. Good.

Rasa glares at Gaara while Yashamaru chokes in an effort to cover his laughter,

"No, you insolent child, I'm not blind."

Gaara glares right back at his father,

"Well, I'm telling you that she's right _there_!"

Rasa looks in the direction that he's pointing to, seeing nothing but thin air,

"Child, I don't think you understand that this is not a-"

I've finally had enough, floating over to Yashamaru, I stole one of his kunai from his pouch while Gaara distracted them.

Then, as hard as I could, I stabbed Rasa in the back.

And boy am I thankful that varying amounts of chakra mean different reactions.

Like if I use a lot I become solid _and_ visible.

And if I use a smaller amount, I'm only solid enough to hold things.

Concentrating chakra in one area or areas mean that only those places react.

So when I stabbed Rasa, all that Yashamaru saw was a floating kunai. And that has to be pretty disconcerting.

Rasa isn't amused either, gold dust shimmered around him while he pinpointed my direction, I'd already moved to where Gaara's pointing.

His eyes narrowed, and used the gold dust around him to surround me, too bad that it's pretty useless to a spirit that _intangible._

Nonetheless, I'm annoyed that because of his obnoxious dust, I had to drop the kunai that I was holding.

It got crushed, completely.

Deciding to try something else, I float right by Rasa's ear,

" _Trying to kill me again, Rasa? How cruel, too bad I'm already dead…"_

He flinches and dust once again tries to crush me, but making myself heard doesn't mean that I'm tangible,

" _Try again, darling. And maybe you'll see how futile your attempts are."_

And he does try again, flinching when I used just enough spiritual energy to have the sensation of freezing water when I wrap my arms around him,

" _So close, yet so far Rasa. You should know better than that, a mother knows best after all~"_

"W-what a-a-are y-you?"

Wow, I've made the Kazekage lose his composure twice, nevermind that the first time was me indirectly,

' _I'm hurt, love. Don't you recognize me? Your own wife?"_

He swallows, sweat beading on his forehead despite the frigid temperature that I'm emitting,

"K-karura?"

" _Good job~ Maybe you do have a brain in that head of yours. But simply realizing who I am isn't enough, darling husband of mine."_

Maybe I'm laying it too thick...nah, this is too much fun.

"W-w-w-what do you want from me?"

" _Oh? You'll actually humor this spirit of vengeance? That seems...unwise."_

Rasa pales further,

"Spirit of vengeance?!"

I smile and hug him tighter, much to his discomfort. But then and again, this isn't his birthday,

" _Yes, darling...did you really think that I'd be able to move on after my death? You were there after all, and you didn't save me. What is a poor girl to do when even her own husband abandons her?"_

"I-I'm sorry, Karura. I'm so sorry...I couldn't..I should have…"

And now he's crying,

Well, moving on…

" _All I wanted was revenge...revenge for my death darling~"_

Rasa's a blubbering mess now...time to put the final nail in the coffin,

" _And what do I see when I returned? My child, my sweet innocent little Gaara ostracised from the rest of the village you despicable man!"_

Yashamaru starts tearing up and apologizing as well, turns out I've been pretty loud the entire time,

" _So what is a mother to do? Her precious child shunned? I made up my mind then and there that I'll continue to protect him from beyond the grave."_

Gaara looks like he wishes that he had popcorn, does Suna even have popcorn? Anyway, he's enjoying my verbal lashing of two grown men. It must be pretty funny from his point of view,

" _Now I see you here before me, not a care in the world when your own son suffers!"_

"Karura, please. You must underst-"

" _NO! You listen to_ me _!"_ That shut him up.

" _I was willing to mind my own business and simply remind you to care for Gaara a bit more. But what do you do? You mistake me for Shukaku! A demon!"_

"..."

" _Do you have anything that you want to tell me about Gaara's seal, darling? Why is your first suspect a demon that is supposedly_ securely _sealed?"_

Rasa is visibly struggling to decide on what to say,

"Shukaku's known to be….troublesome...when sealed."

" _Troublesome?"_ Oh the parallels to Shikamaru here~

"He somehow wears away at the seals…"

I wait two seconds for suspense, and then,

" _YOU BASTARD! GET OUT! GET OUT NOW AND DON'T YOU DARE COME BACK!"_

Rasa dropped in a dead faint.

I'm not sure if it's from the shock after I basically screamed in his ear-ask Shukaku, he knows that I have an amazing pair of lungs-or from my words.

Yashamaru also looks like he's about to topple any moment, but surprisingly gets himself together enough to rush out the door, probably to get a medic.

This leaves me and Gaara alone in the house.

He looks at me with barely concealed mirth,

"Mother?"

' _Yes?'_

"You're the best ever!"

I smile at his response,

' _And you are the best child ever.'_

Visibly pleased, he pokes at the unconscious Kazekage,

"The meanie deserved to fall over dead."

' _He's not dead, just unconscious.'_

Gaara pouts, disappointed,

"Well, he better die soon."

I raise an eyebrow, while I agree with him, I am curious about his reasons,

' _Now why is that?'_

"Because he was a meanie to you."

I laugh, he's really too cute for his own good sometimes,

' _Rasa is the Kazekage, the village still needs him.'_

He pouts while I ruffle his hair,

"So he still has his uses? That's why you're keeping him alive?"

' _Yes, those that are useful are better left alive no matter how annoying they are. Know that this applies to everyone.'_

"Oh. You're really smart, Mother!"

' _Not really, now how about that present the Kazekage got for you? It's not as if he needs it...maybe we'll relieve him of some other things as well. Imagine how hard those poor ANBU would have to work because the Kazekage was carrying too much!'_

Gaara claps his hand happily and made his way to the wrapped parcel that Rasa held,

"Yay, presents!"

After we finish, we've gathered quite a few kunai and various other odd objects. When we finally move all of them back to the nursery and nestled snugly between the mattresses, the ANBU finally arrive to take the Kazekage away to the hospital.

All in all it had been an eventful day for Gaara.

He's happily tearing apart the wrapping paper under Yashamaru's wary gaze, the man probably expects him to start tearing everything apart like the teddy bears.

And guess what?

Inside the box was. Another. Kami. Damned. BEAR.

I'm starting to believe that Rasa really doesn't know what to do with children, like at all.

Because teddy bears?

They're _super_ lame.

And now Gaara's upset and throwing a temper tantrum.

Those include _a lot_ of sand.

Yashamaru has been reduced to trying his best to dodge.

Ooh~ What's this? There's something left in the box?

I pick it up, it's a puppet.

Huh, Rasa must be worse at being a parent than I thought, what one of your children likes doesn't translate to "my child loves it so that must mean all of the other children like it". I'm surprised that there isn't a mini fan inside the box as well.

Oh,

He probably thinks that fans are for _girls_ because Temari likes fans and she is a girl.

Kankuro is a boy and he likes puppets so they _must_ be for boys...Rasa you are an idiot.

A genius idiot.

I know that they contradict each other but Rasa is an idiot that somehow manages to do things for all the wrong reasons and still get it right.

I can imagine it, Deidara and Sasori invading Suna and Gaara pulls a puppet out. Sasori uses the Third Kazekage while all of Gaara's puppet has his sand because it responds to his chakra. The two Akatsuki members going on about art and Gaara pointing out that art isn't eternal while smashing several of Sasori's puppets just to prove his point. Deidara then argues that his art is more superior and the Akatsuki members fight with each other while Gaara just watches from the sidelines.

This must come to pass…

' _Hey Gaara!'_

He stops and looks back at me with tear filled eyes while I attach some chakra strings to the tiny puppet,

' _It dances,'_ In response I twitch several fingers, it doesn't move the way I want it too but Gaara's already interested,' _See?'_

"I like it! Thank you, Mother!" I give the puppet to Gaara.

Yashamaru just has a nope-I'm-out-of-here expression, he turns around and leaves, closing the door behind him. I can hear his muttering from the other side of the door, I do hope his brain hasn't melted...

Well, I've got better things to do than worrying about Yashamaru's mental health, he should have read the fine print when he took the job of Gaara's caretaker.

I have a certain small child to teach puppetry, nevermind that I don't know anything about it other than it involves chakra strings to control.

Oh, that and Sasori apparently is a prodigy in the field.

And Kankuro uses puppets.

I'm going to make sure that Gaara is better than all of them.

Combined with his taijutsu and sand, he'd be unstoppable.

Correction-combined with my genjutsu and fuinjutsu when I get Shukaku to teach me, along with Gaara's taijutsu, sand, and puppets- _we'll_ be unstoppable.

The world will burn...or not since that includes us as well.

But the world should prepare for our pure awesomeness!

* * *

 **Do you people think that Gaara should learn puppetry?**

 **I hope I got Rasa's reaction down accurately...**

 **Well, I got another chapter done!**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

 **Mizudoriko**


	7. The once was a girl in another place

**Disclaimer**

 **AN: I feel like I'm driving to much amusement for Yashamaru's pain...**

 **Oh well!**

* * *

My morning started out as it usually does, though not always in the same order:

Return from genjutsu practice

Wake Gaara up

Play with Gaara

Teach Gaara things...on various topics.

Follow Gaara around as he does whatever he does and occasionally make snarky comments on people.

Talk to Shukaku and keep him entertained

Crash Shukaku's parties, meaning: mess up all of his plans, or try…

Freak Yashamaru out..

Play pranks on the Kazekage-he's stopped visiting after the "you killed me" prank. Which is totally fine by me.

Draw, Gaara now has a whole stack of drawings by yours truly.

Fill in all remaining hours somehow

Convince Gaara to go to sleep. Yes, this happens every day. That child hates sleep with a passion.

* * *

Everything was going according to schedule.

Until now.

Why? Because Gaara has asked me to tell him a story, and not like random stories that I usually tell

A very specific story.

A story about me, when I was a small child.

Cue a freak out fest from me.

Ok, I'm fine now…

And here I am, trying to convince Gaara that he really really doesn't want a story about me.

It's not working.

* * *

' _Gaara, trust me, I tell horrible stories about myself.'_

"No you don't! What about the time you told me how you came from another world?'

I blanch, he actually believed that? I'd only told him that story because I thought he would chalk it up to something I made up…

' _Gaara, that one isn't true...I made it up.'_

Gaara crosses his arms defiantly,

"No, you didn't!"

' _How do you know that I didn't lie?'_

"See? I told you it was true! Besides, it was too realistic to be a lie."

Remember what I said about scarily perceptive brats? Yeah, one of them is sitting right in front of me,

' _Fiiine, I'll tell you a story-'_ Gaara opens his mouth to add something, ' _-About myself.'_

"Ok."

I sigh, this is going to take a while...it actually needs to last about fifteen minutes. Yashamaru comes and checks in on Gaara in fifteen more minutes, so when that happens I can escape from the "tell my life story" moment. But how to sum up my life story up in fifteen minutes? If I don't finish it, Gaara will bug me until I tell him more...so a summary should do.

I really, really hate it when characters in an anime start monologuing about their sob stories and "woe is me for being alive" crap. Like really, there are people who have it worse than you in the same universe! This is also why I hate Sasuke who's all about "woe is my existence".

My story isn't all that sad, but still, I don't want to go there.

Especially with an easily influenced child like Gaara.

So summary it is,

' _So about fourteen years ago, a baby was born in another world. Her parents originally lived in a place called America, but before she was born, her father found a job in another place called Japan.'_

Here Gaara decided that he needed to add his opinion,

"But that doesn't happen here in the Elemental Nations."

' _No it doesn't, all the ninja stay in their respective villages. But this is about a different world, remember?'_ I reply, the modern world is a far cry from the shinobi era...or is it the modern era _is_ the shinobi era and the era I came from the past?

Aaargh, so confusing...I suppose that means I'm sticking with the different world theory since Shukaku seems to agree. That demon knows _everything_ , and I really do mean _everything_ , he's that knowledgeable. See people? This is why you should be nice to the bijuu, if they like you enough, you never know when they might impart some wisdom upon you.

Anyway, I'm getting off track.

And Shukaku?

Butt out of my narrative, you've taken enough space up in it, make way for other things!

Gaara snaps me out of my imaginary one sided argument with Shukaku, he's not even here and I'm arguing with him, my priorities need some fixing,

"The one with all the machines and some thing you call phones that you can talk into to communicate with other people?"

I smile happily, it would seem that Gaara has inherited my great memory for relative information, nevermind that I'm not his biological mother,

' _Yup, and so the little girl's parents moved to Japan for her father's job. She was born soon after the move, so her parents decided to name her with a Japanese name in honor of their move to a new country. Her name was Hakumei.'_ The smile turns bittersweet, I've been dead for a year now.

Mom, Dad? How are you?

Please don't grieve for me, I don't deserve it...

"So Hakumei grew up in Japan?"

I return to my story, or is it a summary? Ah well, it can be both,

' _Yes, Japan is very similar to the ninja villages but ninjas were a thing of the past there.'_

The look one Gaara's face is one of wonder, I felt the same way when I first came to this world, though the copious amounts of sand ruined the effect of seeing a whole new world for the first time,

"Wow, how did they defend themselves?"

I snort, this world's children are perfect little soldiers, the first thing that he asks after being introduced to a place where there are no ninjas is ask how they defended themselves.

You can be proud of your son Rasa, though knowing you, you probably won't,

' _There weren't very many wars in that time period, but they did have bombs. Bombs that could decimate a small country and block the light of the sun for days.'_

You can thank me later Deidara, introducing your art to Gaara,

"That's scary, we don't have any explosives like that here…"

' _Indeed we don't. The little girl grew up in the new country and went to school there.'_

"School? Like the Academy?"

Oh right, the only thing besides school here for the civilians is the Academy. And I don't even know if Gaara knows about the civilian schools,

' _It is like the Academy, she went to school there and when she turned eleven, her father's job changed again.'_

"Again?" He asked in disbelief. My move was like a shinobi moving from one country to another.

In other words, it doesn't happen.

Unless you marry someone from another village, or they marry you.

But that needs the two villages to be on good relations with each other.

And that's rare.

So his his shock on how this happen _twice_ for something as trivial as a _job_ is understandable,

' _This time, they moved back to America, so she had to leave her home and change schools.'_

I sigh, this actually wasn't all that long ago, about three years,

' _She didn't have many friends before, and when she moved to a new school, she didn't have many friends there either.'_

Gaara looks down at his hands in quiet contemplation,

"So she's like me, huh? I don't have any friends either…"

I try to smile for him, but inside I'm banging the floor and cursing Rasa for the unfairness that this adorable chibi is put through,

" _Yes, but that's because you haven't met anyone to be friends with, your uncle and your father do not count since they already have a role in your life.'_

Gaara looks at me hopefully,

"So can you be my friend?"

I laugh, despite his genius he's still a child with the innocence that comes with being one.

' _Some people say that a mother is her child's best friend, but really, you should have someone else about your age. Don't worry, you'll have a certain blonde haired jinchuuriki as a friend sometime in the future.'_

"In the future? So you know what happens in the future?" Gaara frowns at my words

' _Not really, but I do know some things. Like that blonde who's going to be your best friend. A word of warning, he's easily...excitable.'_

His mood doing a complete one eighty from his previous depressed state when he found out that I couldn't be his best friend,

"But he's going to be my best friend! And that makes him awesome, right?"

I snicker,

' _Yeah...right, he's...awesome.'_

"So Hakumei is like me and didn't have many friends in her new school…" Gaara changes the topic back to my childhood,

' _But she was happy with her life, she didn't really like interacting with people all that much, preferring to draw or read. So she slowly adjusted to her new school and learned a new language in the next two years. The language she learned when living at her first home is the same language spoken here, but the second language she learned is not one from here. I'm pretty sure thaT it doesn't exist…'_

One can practically see the stars in Gaara's eyes as he pleaded,

"Can you teach it to me then? Pleeeeeeease?!"

I give in to his demands, maybe it'll be useful in the future, besides they say that the earlier the child starts the better they retain the information,

" _Fine, that can happen later. But for now, stop interrupting the story that you wanted to hear so much.'_

He looks abashed,

"Sorry.."

' _It's alright. Two years passed since moving and on her third, she and a group of friends decided to join in on a holiday. It's like a festival where children go around to houses and people give them candy. Hakumei loved candy, especially chocolate. She and her friends had a great time and where on their way home when she got murdered,'_

I pause, reliving my last moments,

' _She was stabbed in the chest, the blade grazing her heart. It was fatal.'_

One finger traces the wound hidden underneath the scarf,

' _And she died. But then she met an adorable little boy…'_

"That's me, isn't it?' Gaara pipes up, teal eyes serious.

Well, this was going to happen eventually, better tell him early so he doesn't resent me for keeping the truth from him later,

' _Yup, I'm not your biological mother Karura, but I'm your adoptive mother.'_

I hold my breath, I hope he doesn't hate me for this...In my defence, I never really did lie, I just withheld the truth,

"Oh, so does that mean you're dead? That's why nobody else can see you unless you want them to, right?"

Ah, the joys of being a child, your attention span is that of an over eager puppy,

' _Yes, I am one hundred percent dead. You can even say that I'm quite_ spirited _~'_

Cue a deadpan look from Gaara,

"Please don't say things like that, Mother. You scare me sometimes.."

I give him an insane grin,

' _Please child, if I'm not here to scare you, how else do you develop an immunity towards the horrors of life?'_

"You could be more subtle about it, or do away with the puns."

I gasp, scandalized,

' _Do away with my horrible puns? You truly wound me!'_

"Mother, that's not going to work, and your slapping your wounded chest. It doesn't make sense because your heart is already wounded."

There goes my pride.

But that means that I've taught him well.

Maybe too well.

But well nonetheless.

Victory for me!

Look on the bright side or lif-ahem, death they say!

Wiping away tears of my pride,

' _I'm sooo proud, Gaara! You really do take after me!'_

Gaara looks disturbed and pleased at the same time,

"E-eh? Please don't cry Mother!"

' _Ah, you adorable_ adorable _child, come here and give your mother a hug~'_ I say, holding my arms out with a wide smile.

Gaara scrambles over, plopping himself down on my lap,

"So what are we going to do today? Uncle Yashamaru should be coming soon, should we play a prank on him?"

I consider his idea, it does have its merits,

' _Hmmm… we should, but that depends on what news he brings us today. If we don't like it then we can prank him to our heart's content.'_

"Ok." Chirps Gaara happily, bouncing towards the door.

It opens and a very nervous looking Yashamaru walks in,

"Good morning, Gaara-sama, Aneki-sama," Here he looks pleadingly at Gaara and the air beside him where he assumes I am, "And please don't prank me!"

Laughing crazily at his plea I make sure that I use enough energy to make myself heard. Poor Yashamaru has taken to calling me "Aneki-sama". He probably called Karura Aneki, but now I'm Aneki-sama after the Rasa incident as Gaara and I have taken to call the prank we played on the Kazekage.

" _There's no guarantee of that, Yashamaru!"_

"A-ah, I see. Kami please have mercy on my soul," Here Yashamaru respectfully bows his head for his prayer, "Gaara-sama, Aneki-sama, Temari-chan and Kankuro-kun are visiting today. They will be here in an hour, I thought that you would like to know."

With that, he promptly fled.

Well, I was wondering when I was going to meet my other "children" because Kami knows that Gaara is my only true child.

The adorable little chibi.

Ok, little chibi is kind of repetitive, but still.

But the Sand Sibs are visiting their little brother today~!

' _How about we get the sandbox ready? We're going to meet you siblings! So we better have something fun for them planned out.'_

"Alright! To the sandbox then!"

I laugh at his enthusiasm,

' _Eat breakfast first tanuki-chibi! His most esteemed Ore-sama can only do so much to keep you alive!'_

* * *

 **Here's another chapter!**

 **And we finally see some back story of the Main Character, Hakumei.**

 **Next one will be about Temari and Kankuro coming over.**

 **So learning puppetry is out then?**

 **(Reply to Guest: Thank you! I love Shukaku too~)**

 **That's all for now!**

 **Mizudoriko**


	8. Of Playdates and Sandboxes

**Disclaimer**

 **Here's a slightly longer chapter...(about 500+ words)(Also, please excuse my misspellings and improper grammar at times, please point them out so I can fix them!)**

* * *

' _ **HAHAhaHahahaHAhaHa! I still can't believe that you'd ever call me anything with an honorific, much less "sama"!'**_

I gasp in mock indignation,

' _Excuse you, I can totally be polite to people. Unless you want me to call you tanuki-san?'_

He grimaces at the name, I'm not surprised, it sounds weird,

' _ **No thanks, I'll stick with "his most esteemed ore-sama". Tanuki-san sounds weeeeeeeird.'**_

Called it! I knew he thought it was weird.

Tapping a finger on my bottom lip, I wonder what other names I can use,

' _I can't call you tanuki-chibi...but I can call you tanuki-kun!'_

The bijuu cringes,

' _ **Kami-sama help me, please don't. Like, no. No, no, no. What part of "no" do you not understand?'**_

Now put in a well placed smirk,

' _All of it, the entire word.'_

I really should find where those crickets are hiding, they're getting annoying,

' _ **...'**_

' _Oh come on! Stop sulking Shukaku! It totally fits your personality~'_

Shukaku considers my words for a moment,

' _ **I think you're suicidal.'**_

' _How? I'm already dead!'_

He grins, a mouth full of sharp sandy teeth. I'm most likely to get crushed than torn to bits in them, they're still very sharp though,

' _ **Because the moment I get out of these chains I'm going to make you wish you've never been born.'**_

Now would be a good time to back away slowly,

' _Ok...then maybe I'll, oh I don't know? MAKE SURE YOU NEVER GET OUT OF THOSE CHAINS?!'_

Shukaku sighs and winces at my loud "banshee" screaming. Honestly, I just have a wonderful pair of lungs, and he should learn to appreciate them,

' _ **Just go with the flow, denying the inevitable is bad for your health. It's almost like insanity.'**_

I snort, he calls me insane when he doesn't have many marbles left himself?

Yeah, _almost_ insanity, he could just be forthright and say that I'm insane and be done with it,

' _Pfft, you're one to talk. Besides, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.'_

In a patronizing tone he reserves for moments he believes I should know that I'm being incredibly stupid,

' _ **Denying something over and over and expecting it to work out the way you want it to when it is inevitable**_ **is** _**insanity.'**_

Just _where_ are those Kami damned crickets?!

' _...'_

' _ **You know I'm right.'**_ Shukaku goads

Suna doesn't have crickets, right?

' _...'_

And here I thought crickets here get fried,

' _ **...'**_

I open my mouth,

' _One thousand bottles of sa-'_

It's a surefire way to get Shukaku to stop being annoying,

' _ **SHUT UP AND STOP BEING A SORE LOSER! You know you lost that one.'**_

Apparently not, Shukaku is annoying when he wants to, where he wants to,

' _Damn. Shukaku 482; Hakumei 361'_

If those chains didn't bind him down, he'd most definitely be waving his arms around in joy,

' _ **YES! I'm still in the lead by one hundred twenty one! Bow down to my esteemed self and drown in your self loathing that you will never be as great as me!'**_

' _Shukaku, spirits don't down. And stop lording your wins over me! It's not as if it matter anyway!'_

' _ **Yeah, yeah. You're just upset that you can't catch up.'**_ He grumbles.

Oh no, you are not going _there,_

' _No, I'm not.'_

' _ **Yes, yes you are.'**_ Shukaku counters, grinning again

' _No, I'm not!'_ I'm not being childish, and even if I am, Shukaku is worse than me!

' _ **Yes, you are.'**_

Alright, I've had it,

' _NO, I AM NOT!'_

' _ **...You are.'**_

Actually, now is the moment that I've had it,

' _Shut up!'_

Silence, and then,

' _ **I never thought I'd see the day that you direct those words at me, but you're a hundred years too early to deliver it in the same precision as me.'**_

' _...'_

Taking my silence and interpreting the chirp of the crickets Shukaku decided that it meant I agreed with him,

' _ **I knew that you would agree with me~!'**_

' _...'_ Nope, I'm not talking to you _ever_ again.

' _ **Aren't we the best of friends? Comrades through thick and thin! War is totally awesome~!'**_

Wait, I'm back to talking now,

' _What. The. Heck. War? Since when did we live through a war? Well, I'm dead but I'm pretty sure we didn't endure a war. Aaaand I'm also sure that we aren't friends. As for comrades? Where do I even begin?!'_

' _ **At the beginning of course~!'**_

I facepalm

' _I'm just going to ignore your comment…'_

' _ **Don't ignore me Hakumei-chaaan!'**_ Shukaku wails.

I continue ignoring him in favor of continuing my rant of how everything he just said doesn't make sense,

' _What did we even go through? I've only know you for about a year!'_

' _ **A year is a long time!'**_

' _You're a bijuu. An. IMMORTAL. Being! Time doesn't matter to you! Or it shouldn't…'_

' _ **It's a looooong time. Trust me, you humans think that a year is an eternity'**_

' _No it isn't. And most humans don't think a year is an eternity unless they're impatient or a child. Since when did you care about what the "despicable fleshbags" thought of time?'_

' _ **I care about a lot of things, just not humans...besides, I have a gigantic heart!'**_

' _I'm sure you do Shukaku, especially since it has to support a body_ that _large. Do you even need a heart or any other organ when you're just a mass of chakra?'_

' _ **Hey! I'm not fat! I'm just….chubby? ARRGH! And no, I don't actually have an actual heart or any other organs. I'm made of sand, what did you think I had?'**_

' _Well, I'd say that you're made of bits of sand, seals and magic~!'_

' _ **I knew I shouldn't have asked you that question. You'd just give me a cheesy answer...ugh, excuse me while I puke.'**_

' _If you don't have a stomach how do you puke? Also, since you don't have organs, you don't have a brain. So how are you talking? Or even alive?'_

' _ **MAGIC~!'**_

' _I thought you hated the word "magic" so much that you had to puke?'_

' _ **No, it's not magic that I have something against. It's you.'**_

' _Gee, thanks. You're the one who declared us friends not two minutes ago.'_

' _ **You're welcome….friend.'**_

Shukaku actually looks embarrassed, maybe it is because of his admission that I am his friend? Wait, don't tell me he actually means it!? Poor guy, he's probably never had friend before, so he doesn't know what to do...No matter! Hakumei shall come to the rescue and teach him all about friends!

Starting with all the cheesy friendship songs…

' _Hmm...so we are. YAY~! Friends forever! THE AWESOME DUO WE ARE INDEED!'_

Shukaku seems pleased,

' _ **Trust you to make a big deal out of it…'**_

' _Uwaaaa! Please don't start crying! Shukaku, NO! You're going to flood this place! Since when did that lake get there?! I take it back! Now stop_ crying _!'_

This is too much, I'm sure that Shukaku will appreciate being able to cry by himself without anyone bothering him. And Gaara is just about finished breakfast, I do hope that the flood of tears don't affect him as well, but it is his mindscape so there's absolutely no guarantee of that…

* * *

"Oh, please come in, Temari-chan, Kankuro-kun." Yashamaru smiles at his niece and nephew, "Gaara has been waiting for you all morning."

"Is it true that Mother's soul protects Gaara?" Temari asks, the only one of the Kazekage's children old enough to remember anything of their mother other than a few fuzzy memories.

This proves to be trouble for Yashamaru, he's been building a beautiful mansion on the other bank of the treacherous waters of Denial,

"H-ha, how about I take you to meet Gaara now? He's playing in his sandbox."

"I want to know if what Kazekage-sama told Lady Chiyo is true." Temari is one stubborn child. Go ruin Yashamaru's day! I know you can do it, you're doing a pretty good job of it actually.

"Come on, Temari." Yashamaru looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but with his niece at the moment.

"Actually, I want to know as well," Kankuro chooses this moment to add his two yen into the conversation, "I want to meet Mother."

"P-please, children. You don't know what you are talking about." Yashamaru tries to smile reassuringly, it doesn't work.

Temari decides that she's done with her uncle's dodgy answers,

"No, no I don't. But I do know that you adults have been keeping Mother away from us, your nervousness at our questions prove it!"

Kankuro supports his sister,

"Yeah, and you adults have no right of keeping her from us! She's our mother!"

Yashamaru sighs,

"Alright, come with me and see for yourself."

They gulp, suddenly unsure about what to expect.

* * *

"Hello, Temari…" Gaara waves at his sister happily, "And...Kankuro!"

They both try to muster a genuine smile, but fail when they remember that their brother is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi.

Speaking of which, I really should start calling Shukaku Ichi-chan…

Despite his happy greeting of his siblings Gaara is actually analyzing them, forming his own opinions. I can tell that it isn't very high since Gaara has adopted a glazed look in his eyes, probably going on autopilot while thinking about things.

"Hello, to you too Gaara.." Temari tries, she really does. Perhaps I should do something, it can't hurt to adopt another child, right?

All three of the Sand siblings sit in Gaara's gigantic sandbox awkwardly, the older two unsure about what to do and Gaara happily ignoring them in favor of contemplating Kami knows what.

The sandbox is Gaara's favorite place to be, he can use the sand in there to make sculptures or to practice his control. Adjusting the speed, direction, and how hard each projectile is compressed while trying to incorporate some basic taijutsu moves.

The taijutsu was a birthday gift from our resident little Ichi.

So while the other two children are trying to look anywhere but Gaara and struggling to work up the courage to ask him about me.

They're probably thinking that there's no way a spirit can remain after death.

How wrong they are.

' _Hey, Gaara.'_ He looks up at me, not that the others notice as they're looking resolutely in the other direction.

"Yes, Mother?"

That got their attention, heads snapping back like lightning.

' _I think you should probably just humor them this time. Temari seems nice, not as biased as your elder brother. You can even give her a test to see how she reacts to your...uniqueness.'_

"Ok."

He then turns around to face Temari who is currently staring at him gaping.

"Hey, Temari?"

"Y-yes, Gaara?"

Gaara gathers some sand in his hands while Temari pales,

"Here, have a plushie."

"O-ok." Temari gingerly accepts the sand plushie of Shukaku, she looks like she wants to say something else, eyes flickering from the plushie to Gaara and then back again.

"Is there something wrong?"

Temari pales even further, backpedaling,

"A-ah, t-there's nothing w-wrong!"

Gaara gives her one of his blank deadpan expressions,

"Then why are you stammering? It's not as if you have a lisp or a permanent stutter. You were talking just fine to Yashamaru downstairs."

Temari registers that Gaara called his uncle "Yashamaru" instead of something more respectful, I notice this too but I don't comment on this.

Maybe later.

"Fine, why is the plushie so weird? It doesn't look like a bear,"

Gaara smirks,

"Oh, that's because it isn't a bear. You better take back your words, Shukaku doesn't like being called weird. You must call him "most esteemed ore-sama", not weird."

"W-what?!" Temari splutters, not understanding what just occurred,

"I said you shouldn't make fun of Shukaku, only Mother is allowed to do that."

Kankuro has a nope-I'm-out-of-here look as he slowly starts to inch towards the door, but he has no such luck. Gaara's sand conveniently shifts into a humongous sand dune right in front of the door.

And the door opens inwards towards the sandbox.

Well, have luck trying to open _that_ now.

Serves you right for trying to leave without permission.

"Please don't leave Kankuro, it's dangerous out there," Gaara gives his elder brother an angelic smile, " Now, please _sit_."

"As I was saying, the plushie is in Shukaku's likeness, so insulting it is the same as insulting him."

Here Temari squeaks and drops the plushie as if she had been burned.

Gaara chides her in a soft voice while he reaches his hand out to pick the plushie up,

"Now, now, it isn't nice to drop him like that, you'll hurt his poor feelings Aneue."

"I'm s-sorry."

He looks up at her with wide teal eyes,

"It isn't me that you should be apologizing to, I'm not Shukaku. It's him that you should be saying sorry to."

Temari gapes at he little brother again before mumbling out,

"S-sorry, Shukaku."

And she is rewarded with a blinding smile,

"See? That wasn't too hard, was it? So, what do you want to play?"

"Umm? Are we allowed to leave now?" Kankuro raises his hand, the perfect little schoolboy

Gaara glares at him, and trust me, he's already a master of the I-can-murder-you-right-here-and-right-now-but-I-can't-be-bothered-and-if-you-annoy-me-enough-I-just-might glare of death at such a young age.

Maybe it's a kekkai genkai?

Ooh? Will it turn out like Orochimaru's paralyzing glare?

That would be funny.

And epic.

But back on topic,

"No, _you_ are not allowed to leave. Aneue, however, is allowed if she wants to."

Temari has one major flaw, she cares too much for her brothers. And she can't just leave her brother with her other baby brother that may or may not murder him the moment she left.

So she stays,

"N-no, it's fine, I'll stay here." She desperately thinks of something that they could play, "How about we play hide and seek?"

"In a sandbox?" Gaara deadpans.

" _I have an idea children. Gaara, you like flying right? How about you introduce them to the wonders of the sky?"_

Kankuro and Temari stare at the space I occupied, not that they could see me, but they could hear me since I'm imbuing my voice with spiritual energy.

"Mom?"

"Mother?"

"As you wish, Mother."

Kankuro is the first of the two to regain his composure,

"Mom's still alive!"

" _Actually, I'm dead."_

"You idiot! Father told Lady Chiyo that she was a _spirit_. Spirits are the souls of dead people, Kankuro!" And there is Temari's famous temper.

"Owwww, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Whimpers of pain can be heard from Kankuro as he clutches his head.

" _As I was saying, I'm dead. So flying? Anyone?"_

Temari turns towards my direction, hands on her hips,

"You're not like Mother when she was alive."

I sigh, exasperated,

" _Of course I'm not like her! I'm_ dead _! Not to mention I'm a malicious spirit now, we're known to dislike people with a passion."_

"Oh." Very eloquent, child.

" _Now, flying?"_

Gaara pipes up,

"With floating sand right?"

" _Yup~"_

"Ok!"

" _Now, who else is game?"_

"Me!" I suppose they're all still children, despite the world they live in, they're still innocent.

"Me too."Ah, so Temari finally gets over her doubts.

Gaara forms a floating clump of sand and Temari gingerly puts both feet on it, hands out for balance.

Kankuro joins her on a completely different platform made of sand.

A true of Gaara's control indeed, to be able to keep both of them afloat.

And now they're laughing their heads off as they speed around the roof of Yashamaru's house.

Did I mention that we've been living in Yashamaru's house since the beginning?

And that the sandbox is on top of the roof, you can see the sky from here, and it's super blue.

With no clouds, it's a desert.

Rasa chooses this exact moment to yell from the other side of the door on the roof,

"WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU DOING UP THERE! AND WHO LOCKED THE DOOR?!"

I screech back at him, surpassing his volume,

" _THE DOOR IS NOT LOCKED YOU LOVE CHILD OF A GLITTER BOX AND A LUMP OF PYRITE! JUST OPEN THE DOOR!"_

Aaahhhh, sweet blissful silence.

Or not,

"I'M COMING I-"

SMASH!

Ha, there goes the door.

Remember the giant dune of sand?

It was still there when Rasa broke the door.

And like nature's law dictates, they move from high pressure to low pressure where there is little amounts of sand.

Namely, the area where Rasa was standing.

I feel sorry for Yashamaru, he's going to have to clean that up later…

But Rasa's buried now.

Serves him right for not opening the door properly.

A huge wave of gold bursts out like a molten fountain of..

Well, gold.

Rasa crawls out, spluttering and spitting out copious amounts of sand, he really shouldn't have had his mouth open.

Temari and Kankuro are on the ground now, trying and failing to stifle their laughter.

"You two, come with me. We're going back home." Rasa tries to keep his composure from slipping into one of rage.

Still laughing, the two children follow after him meekly, only to stop at the door,

"Umm...Father? How are we going to move the sand? It's blocking the exit," Kankuro asks timidly,

"..." Rasa's face is slowly turning red, maybe a sunburn?

"Father…?"

Rasa turns around as if pained,

"Gaara, would you move the sand?"

Gaara tilts his head innocently,

"Mother says it's only polite to use the _golden_ rule."

Rasa twitches at the pun,

"Then what is this _golden_ rule?"

Gaara drives the last nail in,

"Always say 'please'."

Rasa takes a deep breath, swallowing his pride. His gold may be heavier than sand, but he doesn't have enough to move it. Besides, more sand will fill the evacuated space, making the process longer and more humiliating,

"Gaara, _please_ move your sand or Kami help you."

"Now, now, Kazekage-sama, surely it isn't wise to do away with such a valuable tool as I?"

"Open. The. DOOR."

"Alright~!" Gaara cheerfully obliges.

And the trio leaves through the door, the two children waving goodbye to their younger brother.

Gaara waves back.

When they leave we both look at each other, mirror maniacal twinkles in our eyes,

"Mother, he forgot that he could have just shunshined off the roof with both Temari and Kankuro."

I smile, all teeth exposed,

' _Indeed, and we shall remind him the next time we see him. He'll never live it down, in life or in death.'_

* * *

 **OMAKE:**

 **Here's just a thought I had while thinking about future Naruto and Gaara interactions...let the misinterpretations begin!**

 **Naruto:** *Out of the blue*

"So, your mother stayed with you to protect you huh? And you say she's dead?"

 **Gaara:** *Confused as to why they are talking about his mother*

"Yes, she's dead."

 **Naruto:** *Sounding jealous*

"That must be some motherly love."

 **Gaara:** *Seeking to help Naruto better understand the situation and not be so jealous*

"Actually, before she got stuck on this side a spirit she'd actually never met me."

 **Naruto:** *Sympathetic*

"So she died that soon after your birth, huh?"

 **Gaara:** *Is cut off*

"It's no-"

 **Naruto:** *Curious*

"So how old is she anyway?"

 **Gaara:** *Confused as to which why this matters in the conversation*

"She looks the same she's always looked."

 **Naruto:** *Disbelief, but then Gaara's mother is a ghost…*

"So she never aged?"

 **Gaara:** *Confirmative*

"Yes, according to her, she looks the same as when she died."

 **Naruto:** *Awed*

"Wow. So how old does she look?"

 **Gaara:** *Still not getting it*

"Thirteen"

 **Naruto:** *Pales and is disturbed*

"NANIIIIIII?! So she had you at age thirteen! And is Temari three years older than you? Oh my Kami-sama...three children at age thirteen."

 **Gaara:** *Understanding the situation at last*

"You have it wrong, she's not my biological mother, so she didn't have any children before she died."

 **Naruto:** *Brain melts*

"whaaaaa?"

* * *

 **Another chapter!**

 **Let's see how long I can keep this up, probably not very long, Middle School is very stressful (And omg high school and college?! I won't survive T-T)**

 **Thanks for all the reviews and love!**

 **Thank you too MrTicklesMMM(you have no idea how much help your feedback is to me, please continue!), rickcrossed(for supporting me _and_ my sister's fanfics, you're the best!), MrSmileyPikachu(for your enthusiasm), Indigo2004(You're the best friend ever for reading through my terrible writing...),Dr. Sparkeater(thanks for the hilarious review, it made my day when I read it~),and May525(thanks for all the nice comments!) for reviewing and supporting me!**

 **And all the other people who commented, favorited, or followed (or all of them, you guys are sooo awesome~!)I don't even know what to say...thank you all so much for being super nice and supportive of my second fanfic.(And my first serious one, I plan on returning to the first, but not right now...I know, that probably will be a long time.)**

 **Side note of a super long Author's note: Check my sister Tavina out maybe? She's got great stories, all in the Narutoverse. Ashen, Bloodless, and Edge of a Weeping River are awesome. (and much better than mins XD)**

 **Now, if you've read through all of that, I hope you have an awesome(cool, great, wonderful?) day~!**

 **Mizudoriko**


	9. Arguments and Plushies?

**Disclaimer**

 **AN: Gaara is now four, so there has been a time skip of about two and a half years.**

* * *

"Gaara-sama?"

Said child looks up from his drawing on the floor,

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go out today?"

"Go out? Why? I've walked outside before."

"No, out as in the village."

"We _are_ in the village Uncle, though it is the very outer edge of it."

Yashamaru flinched at his nephew's words, he probably feels guilty that Gaara is separated from the village,

"Yes, technically we are in the village, but I mean near the center.."

Gaara considers the offer for a moment,

"I don't have anything else to do today, right?"

' _No, we've already finished most of the important things for today. We should explore the village a bit.'_

"I don't have anything else to today. We'll go visit the city?"

"Yes, I'll take you there. Come to the door when you are ready, I'll wait for you there."

"Alright, I'll be right back!"

* * *

' _Shukaku!'_

' _ **What?'**_ Well isn't someone grumpy today?

Oh well,

' _We're visiting the village today!'_

Shukaku looks somewhat interested,

' _ **Oh? Go have fun with the humans and send some sacrifices!'**_

Remind me why I am stuck with _this_ guy again? Oh right, I'm stuck here with Gaara and Shukaku comes with the package.

Joy.

And sacrifices? Are we starting that now? Hmmm...maybe I can ask for some from Gaara, he probably wouldn't mind.

Shukaku would be happier, and that means more ways to get him to tell me thing~

I should really do that, but for the moment, I'll act annoyed,

' _Really Shukaku?'_

' _ **What?! What else am I supposed to say? It's not as if I can do anything about it. And I like sacrifices.'**_ Shukaku replies defensively.

' _No, not what you are supposed to say, what you are supposed to_ do _. Personally, I don't really care that you want sacrifices, I gave up most of my morals a long time ago. Like after the first year of being dead, which is about three years ago.'_ I do try and point him in the right direction, I don't think it is working.

' _ **Huh, time seems to pass quickly now that I think of it, Gaara's four now? And what was I supposed to**_ **do** _ **?'**_

' _Yes, Gaara is now four...you really think that those ignorant people in the village would care if Gaara won't purposefully kill them?'_ Please get what I'm trying to say….

' _ **...'**_

' _Exactly, so you better do something about it or we may end up with a dead jinjuriki.'_ Come on~!

' _ **You could probably handle any civilians stupid enough to try. The only true threat would be the ninjas that the Kazekage would execute if they dared to attack Gaara.'**_

' _...'_ Nope, not working.

At all.

' _ **So there isn't any real threat. Besides, if he dies, I'll eventually reform.'**_

Ok, so maybe I do need to spell it out for him,

' _Oh, just give him the sand gourd thing already! So what if people aren't stupid enough to attack?'_

' _ **So what is your point?'**_ Shukaku doesn't have eyebrows. If he did, he'd be raising one right now.

' _So Gaara can be totally badass and awesome in the future!'_

' _ **No, you're being too loud.'**_

' _Uuughh, you are impossible.'_

Cue a Dad joke from Shukaku, does the Narutoverse actually have Dad jokes?

Either way, it's terrible,

' _ **No, my name is Shukaku and I'm the Ichibi.'**_

' _You did not just go there!'_

And add in some smugness,

' _ **Yes, yes I just did.'**_

You get a smug bijuu with raised non existent eyebrows that tells horrible Dad jokes…

I try convincing him again, with a different approach,

' _Just think of it as a birthday present, four years' worth of birthday presents in one.'_

Shukaku scoffs at my poor attempt at getting him to do what I want,

' _ **Like I care about presents or giving tham.'**_

I give up,

' _Ok, fine. You are doing it because I said so.'_

The other non existent eyebrow joined the first,

' _ **And I'll listen to you because?'**_

I smile,

' _Or I'll sing the Never Ending Song.'_

Shukaku cringes,

' _ **Is it another one of those annoying songs of yours?'**_

Grinning even wider,

' _Oh, it's not annoying. It just. Never. Ends. There is a reason why it's the Never Ending Song.'_

Hook, line and...

' _ **Please don't, I want my remaining sanity to last another century.'**_

Sinker~

' _This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because his is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because…'_

Shukaku just stares at me,

' _ **You**_ **really** _ **do have another one of those infernal songs! Just how many more do you know?!'**_

' _Enough to last you an eternity, now let me go back to my wonderful singing. You shall see that I_ can _sing properly without screaming like a banshee!'_

' _ **Alright~! I'll admit that you can sing...which make me mad that you sing like that to anno-'**_

I decide that listening to Shukaku could be put in the back seat and there are more important things to do, like singing,

' _This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because his is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because his is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because his is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because…'_

' _ **-y me...I regret my decision of not shutting you up the moment I had the chance.'**_

And now it is my turn to be smug,

' _As you should, I am a talkative little bad of immaterial flesh.'_

Shukaku finally concedes,

' _ **...so I give Gaara more of my power?'**_

I clap my hands happily,

' _I knew you would come around...eventually~! Oh, OH! I have a better idea! You can give Gaara a special sand plushie of you Sand Wandy!'_

Remember what I said about Shukaku's moods changing quickly?

Yeah, one of these moments is now, from embarrassed and grudgingly repentant to absolutely furious,

' _ **WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT CALLING ME SANDY WANDY?!'**_

Now turn that innocence gouge on max...

' _Not to do it? It would be perfect, an adorable child holding an equally adorable plushie!'_

' _ **No.'**_

Ignoring his refusal I went on,

' _And when the chuunin exams comes around he could totally freak people out as a child holding a creepy plushie with eyes that seem to follow you….aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! Too many ideas!'_

' _ **You want to use me as a scare tactic?**_ **Me** _**a bijuu?!'**_

I reach up to pat one curse seal covered paw of his, it's the only thing I can reach, much to Shukaku's eternal amusement,

' _That's all you got from my mini rant?'_

' _ **Obviously! It was the only important part of it!'**_

' _You really need to fix your priorities.'_

Shukaku lowers his huge head down as far it could go in those chains to look at me better, it was further than before.

Huh.

So it would seem that the seals are weakening, it's only two more years until Gaara reaches age six where Shukuku erodes the seal enough to affect him.

Or that's how the anime goes…

I'm honestly not sure about it at this point, maybe it's time to introduce the two?

For some reason I'm not concerned that Shukaku's slowly breaking free…

Oh well,

' _ **Oh, so**_ **I'm** _**the one that needs his priorities fixed?'**_

Not betraying any of my previous thoughts I reply with a bright,

' _Of course!'_

And Shukaku facefaults,

' _ **Nevermind. But don't you think carrying a plushie of me into another Village, even if it is an ally, is a good idea? It's like pointing an arrow saying, "Look at me! I'm Suna's Jinchuuriki! Please, be my guest and kidnap me or start a war!" it's simply not done!'**_

I agree with his point completely,

' _True, we can change the plushie to something else later. But for now, you'll give him a plushie.'_

' _ **Why?'**_

I sigh, not at him, but at the intelligence of an alien race called "shinobi",

' _Because he does need the sand and I'm not counting on ninjas to have self preservation when they think sealing a bijuu is a good idea. So he needs something non threatening but still able to protect him.'_

' _ **You actually make a good point, this is like the first time that this has ever happened.'**_ Shukaku considers my idea.

I gasp, hand grasping my chest as if it were stabbed.

Right, it was.

My bad, moving on,

' _Are you trying to say that my ideas are terrible? What about the birthday idea?'_

' _ **It was mostly mine and you just built upon it.'**_

' _Good point...huh, I need to step up my game.'_ Somewhere in the world, a tear fell. And no one cared.

' _ **Take that, human! Ore-sama wins again!'**_

' _When will you start calling me by my name, Hakumei, and when will you stop referring to yourself as ore-sama?'_

' _ **Never! Ore-sama's legacy must live on~!'**_

I look at him disbelievingly, what is wrong with this guy?

Oh, right.

He's a bijuu and they come with a boatloads of problems,

' _So your legacy shall live on through yourself? You are your own legacy? How does that even_ work _?'_

' _ **Yup, I'm my own legacy, get it? No one shall ever be equal to me and I will be my own legacy foreeeeeever!'**_

I'm pretty sure he never meant for me to interpret it this way, but I can't resist,

' _Basically, you have nobody and you use yourself because you only have yourself...As for no one ever being like you, you've got that part right, I'm not sure if the world could take another one of you.'_

' _ **Ouch, way to make me feel better about myself, Hakumei-chaaan~'**_

What is it now? Shukaku 1589 and Hakumei 1467? And he actually used my name!

' _On the bright side, you have Gaara and I to carry on if you ever get erased from existence…'_

Shukaku actually looks afraid, but I would be too if I'd just been told that I'd be erased sometime in the future,

' _ **Erased? From existence...this doesn't happen in the future does it?'**_

' _It sort of happens…'_

Being part of the Juubi means that his identity as a separate being has been erased right? So technically he's erased, but still exists at the same time, just a different form.

' _ **What do you mean, "It sort of happens"?!'**_

I decide to give him an answer, just not a straightforward one,

' _You are erased, yet not erased.'_

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, he's getting more frantic,

' _ **Give me a straight answer, dammit!'**_

' _It's nothing to worry about.'_

Definitely shouldn't have said anything.

' _ **Nothing to worry about? My existence is nothing to worry about? Then, pray tell, what is something worthy of worrying about?'**_

' _You weren't erased, you come back…'_

' _ **Sure, veeery helpful. And how do you know this anyway?'**_

And BAM! The million yen question has been asked. Shukaku has probably suspected me knowing something of the future when I keep mentioning the Chuunin exams, but now he has solid proof.

The next million yen question is, "what should I reply?"

' _A-ah...well it's complicated. And honestly, I really don't know much...maybe it's because I was from a different world?'_ Half truths, it is because I'm from a different world, one that has this universe as an anime. As for the part about how I don't know much, it is subjective...so I'm safe there. I haven't lied, or at least, not really.

Shukaku stares at my face intently, as if searching for something while I try not to blink or flinch,

' _ **Hmmm? Really? You. Don't. Know?'**_

I gulp, remembering a mental note I made years ago, when Shukaku is serious, shit usually hits the fan,

' _Y-yeah…'_

He suddenly sighs,

' _ **I'm not getting anything else from you, aren't I?'**_

I nod frantically,

' _ **And I trust that it is for a good reason?'**_

I have made a new discovery, I think I've turned into a bobble head..

' _Yes!'_

Seeing his questioning look,

' _Or the whole world gets royally messed up. Don't worry, nothing bad happens to you and world peace happens.'_

' _ **Don't worry? Hmmph. Why am I even trusting you?'**_

I smile a genuine smile, turning my head to look up at the beautiful sky of Gaara's mindscape, it always had the most awe inspiring sunsets I've ever seen,

' _Because we're friends.'_

Shukaku looks surprised and abashed at the same time,

' _ **S-shut up! This is my life we're talking about!'**_

I turn back to face him, eyes wide and innocent,

' _Oh, Shukaku! You should know now that I'll_ never _let something bad happen to you!'_ 'You are my best and only friend here, Shukaku. And I do mean what I say.'

Secretly thankful that I've just given him a way out of the awkward situation, he promptly bounced back to being his aloof and childish self,

' _ **You'd better! This is the most esteemed ore-sama we're talking about!'**_ 'You're not too bad for a human, and I do trust you to handle this.'

' _So, the plushie?'_

' _ **Oh yeah, right. The original topic we were talking about, how did we go from there to my existence again?'**_

' _Well...there was-'_

Shukaku cut me off,

' _ **Don't give me a word for word replay of our conversation, it was a rhetorical question.'**_

' _Well, if you don't want an answer then you shouldn't have asked.'_

Ahh, I do remember a similar situation to this long ago...

' _ **Using my own arguments against me, eh?'**_

' _Yup!'_ I smiled happily.

' _ **What is it now Shukaku 1589 and Hakumei 1468?'**_

' _Ye-up~!'_ I wonder why we are both keeping count of this anyway, I've gotten a lot better at verbal sparring thanks to Shukaku.

' _ **Huh, I wonder what the rest of my sibling would think about you.'**_

' _That I'm totally awe-so-me!'_

Nope, no inflated ego to see here, you must have mistaken me for that humongous mound of sand and seals over there.

' _ **Yeah, right. I know for sure that you'd never get along with Kurama.'**_

' _Awwww...but I actually like kitsune!'_ I am upset, I really am! Kitsune are really cool and totally reflect my personality! Though I don't see how it reflects Kurama's personality, he's supposed to be _playful_ and a _trickster_ , not hatred incarnate!

Well, at least Naruto's acting the part..

' _ **Just how much do you know?! I never told you who Kurama was and you already know that it's the Kyuubi no Kitsune's true name?!'**_

' _I'm scary like that.'_ Is this more smugness I'm sensing from myself? I doubt anybody from back home would recognize me by the way I'm talking now.

I still call that world home?

I thought that I'd be calling this world "home" by now.

Well, I suppose back there would always be home to me.

' _ **Damn right.'**_ See? Shukaku agrees with me!

I'm too busy off in my little bubble of joy to reply to his compliment,

' _...'_

' _ **Well, let's go scare some poor villagers. I want my sacrifices, Mei-chan.'**_

Yay, I'm promoted to Mei-chan now!

' _But of course, your most esteemed ore-sama.'_

' _ **HA! We're totally the best, Suna won't know what hit them~'**_

I laugh along with him,

' _Since when did Suna know anything?'_

Kami, I really need a camera to photograph those _smiles_! I need to do an album of pictures for all of the bijuu, their smiles are absolutely spine tingling.

In other words.

They are awesome and scary.

' _ **Good point.'**_

* * *

' _So, Gaara? Do you have everything?'_

'Yes, Mother!"

That adorable child is too cute for his own good, I also need to do another album full of pictures of his adorable chibi self!

Yes, I used adorable _twice._

And I just used it again.

Suna should watch out, 'cuz here comes the demonic trio!

"Uncle? I'm ready."

Yashamaru turns around from his position by the front door,

"Good, now we-what is that Gaara-sama?"

Gaara follows Yashamaru's gaze to the gigantic plushie of Shukaku in his arms,

"Oh? Uncle, meet Shukaku! He's the awesomest tanuki ever and I want to be just like his most esteemed ore-sama!"

Poor guy, we're really doing a number on him, no doubt Shukaku's laughing at his misfortune from inside the seal,

"G-Gaara- sama! Who told you that?!"

"Mother! She told me all about the Legendary Tanuki of Suna! It's one of my favorite bedtime stories, it's full of fun adventures and kicking the butts of big bad guys!"

"I-I see...Karura, I hope you didn't tell him anything inappropriate." Uh oh, Mama Bear mode has been activated…

" _Rest assured, I didn't tell him anything that little ears aren't supposed to hear."_

Gaara tugs at my kimono questioningly,

"What aren't you telling me that's inappropriate?"

" _It's inappropriate so I can't tell you what's inappropriate because that would be inappropriate and then I'd be saying inappropriate and that would be inappropriate…"_

Yashamaru chuckles as he took his youngest nephew by the hand, pulling him towards the door,

"You should listen to your mother, Gaara-sama. After all, a mother knows best."

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay! Stuff came up during the end of last week and...yeah.**

 **The new chapter is slightly longer, so I suppose that counts for something?**

 **We're going to have a couple of more chapters before we get into the Academy arc and after that is the Teammates arc.**

 **And guess what comes after that?**

 **THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!**

 **Yup, that pile of "NOPE".**

 **Reply to Guest: Yes I know that Rasa did care about his family, but he made all the wrong choices. Like, if the Wind Daimyo is cutting back on your budget, then find a new way to make money like tourism or convince the dude to change policies. Invading Konoha and neglecting your family isn't going to help. But I do understand that he's only human, however, this is written in Hakumei's point of view and she despises Rasa.**

 **Also, an explanation as to why nobody question Karura's sudden voice change: Spiritual energy distorts Hakumei's voice since she needs a large concentration of it. And despite it still not sounding quite like an older woman, there haven't been any known previous cases of souls staying behind instead of going straight to the afterlife. So no one really knows what to expect and they chalk most of it up to being a spirit.**

 **Rasa is currently in denial and wallowing in regret of his decisions.**

 **Yashamaru is also in denial, but since he has to deal with it daily and can't ignore it like Rasa, he's trying to get himself together enough to be a good uncle to Gaara.**

 **Temari was very young when Karura died and she desperately wants the rumors to be true, and is happily letting herself believe what she wants.**

 **Kankuro wasn't old enough to remember anything important, so he has no reason not to believe Hakumei to be Karura.**

 **Please review and if anyone has any ideas on how the Chuunin exams should go let me know!**

 **With love,**

 **Mizudoriko**


	10. Sand EVERYWHERE

**Disclaimer**

 **AN: Sorry for the long wait guys! The plot bunnies escaped their cages...**

* * *

I should have known better than be excited to explore a village that is smack dab in a _desert_.

Basically, Suna has a lot of sand.

It sounds like it should be obvious, but while we've been staying with Yashamaru, we didn't see a lot of sand. The only place that had any sand at all was the sandbox.

I suppose they thought that giving a potentially unstable jinchuuriki a lethal weapon is the last thing they wanted to do…

I'd agree with them if I didn't know Gaara's personality as well as I do.

It doesn't make me less upset though.

Which brings me to how much Yashamaru has to _clean_ for there to be minimal sand...

Back to the sand, not that the topic of conversation ever left, sand is literally _everywhere_!

In the streets, in the houses-please don't ask how we know that-and sand in some of the food too. The latter is a result of the wind picking up the grains from the streets and then dumping them into the food that are displayed in open stalls.

Unlike me, Gaara doesn't seem to mind the sand all that much, and I'm the one that is incorporeal.

It makes me question my views on life.

Or rather, my non existent life.

As we walk through the streets beside Yashamaru, we are the subject of not so quiet whispers and glares. Some people closed their shop and children stared from the corners of windows as their mother's tried to berate them quietly, but failing dramatically

Ignorant sheep.

Sheep are herd animals.

So are ignorant humans…

' _Hey, Gaara?'_

He looks up at me teal eyes questioning,

"Yes, Mother?" Gaara wasn't very loud, but the street was silent, only to be broken by louder and more frantic whispers.

 _-Did you hear what he said?-_

 _-Of course, to thin air too-_

 _-What was the Kazekage thinking, allowing_ that _to come here?-_

 _-Shhhh! What if the Demon hears us?!-_

If I'm hearing them, then Gaara is probably too, though he doesn't seem to be affected. I suppose hugs are in order when we stop walking, just because he doesn't show any signs of being affected by the villager's harsh words doesn't mean he isn't.

' _Let's go to the playground...or is it a park? Anyway, let's go there, wherever it is.'_

Yashamaru turns to Gaara, still walking,

"What did she say?"

"That we should go to the park or playground...or whatever it is called."

"Oh, I see," Yashamaru smiles at his nephew, "Then let's go."

We arrive at an empty courtyard next to the orphanage, many children were playing there, their childish cries piercing the air.

Yashamaru nudges Gaara towards them,

"Go on, you do remember the way back, don't you?"

"Yes, Uncle." Gaara replies dutifully, knowing that I would remember the way if he forgot. There is some truth in "two heads are better than one" after all, and I'd say that we make a pretty good team. I'm the infiltration specialist, the one that goes ahead and float through things to check for traps, and the long distance support with genjutsu to confuse enemies. Being incorporeal is bad for close combat, people can't land hits on you and you can't land hits on them and there isn't anything stopping them from just waltzing through you to get to whatever they were after.

It's bad for business.

Shukaku is the tank, literally. His entire body is made of sand and seals, so it really doesn't matter if he gets hit since he'll just reform again later, not to mention losing a limb or two is of no consequence to him. The dude didn't even blink when Gamabunta and Naruto sliced off one of his arms. Well, maybe he got angry, but that really isn't the point. And later with Madara he pulls of the Desert Layered Imperial Funeral Seal, basically dissolving both of his arms into sand and using the curse seals on them to seal away Madara. Madara, being the overpowered bastard that he is, eventually broke out of there. But use that on anyone else and they're stuck in there, probably dead and crushed to smithereens.

Being immortal is overpowered…

I'm jealous.

Like sure, it's probably uncomfortable...but you'll never have to worry about dying.

And they aren't humans so they don't usually form any attachments so it won't really matter to them that much of an odd human died here or there.

Or if the entire human race went extinct…

Well, maybe they would be concerned, if only because whatever killed all the people might be able to "kill" them.

Just because one can't really die doesn't mean one should go actively seeking it.

That's just stupid.

Gaara is a well rounded close and long distance fighter since the sand is very adaptable. Plus the sand defense from Shukaku and the taijutsu that I'm getting him to practice, he'd be a formidable foe indeed.

If only I can get him to be more motivated about taijutsu…

Ah well, I'll just bribe him.

Does he have a sweet tooth?

Food preference?

I do remember that it was mentioned somewhere that he liked salted tongues…

Or was it pickled?

And tongues?

What type of tongues?

Lizard?

Bird?

AAAAHHHH! This is so complicated...and despite having no problems with tongues, I really don't want to go looking for any.

Hey, maybe I can convert him to worship sugar...small children are malleable and are mostly affected by their parents.

Or parent, because Rasa's a Kazekage, not a father.

He stopped being a father the moment he decided that his children's happiness was worth less than his village.

Call me biased, but still.

Anyway, we've got a tank, a long range specialist that acts as support and can't be taken out by physical attacks, and an all around fighter on our little team. I'd say that we balance each other out pretty well.

I just hope that we're good enough to face whatever the world throws at us later.

Like Madara.

And Kaguya.

I'm not going to think about that at the moment, it's still over a decade in the future.

Hey, maybe I can start collecting people to join our little cult like Danzo!

'Cuz the Root is totally a cult.

Ha, Danzo a cultist...I can see that happening actually, the amount of fanaticism he has for "the good of the village" is astounding.

Just imagine if that fanaticism were focused on a deity instead of the village.

Ooooh! Like Jashin!

HIDAN! GET OVER HERE AND CONVERT DANZO! I PROMISE HE'LL BE SUPER LOYAL TO JASHIN-SAMA...with the small note that he may be hard to convince since he is so fixated on the village but if you do…

Ah, great mental imagery...nice to know that you like me, brian.

Now if only you actually work when shit hits fans…

Swings are like fans, right?

Actually no, unless they're like those spinning wheel things in amusement parks.

Huh, can we build one of those in Suna?

Oh right, Suna's almost bankrupt...but those swings would be great tourist attractions.

Gaara walks over to the swings and sit down on one, pushing himself off the ground. He watches the other children as they chase a red ball around the yard,

"Mother? Do you think they would let me play with them?"

' _Hmmm...maybe not, I think you should ask.'_ I say truthfully, hopefully the children wouldn't run away the moment he walks up to them.

"Oh, then I won't play with them." Gaara replies decisively, determined to go through with his words.

' _Why not?'_

"Because if they won't accept me for who I am then it is better to just leave them alone. Besides, I have Temari and Kankuro to play with, even though they don't come by anymore."

I nod, watching the children laughing in the yard,

' _Temari and Kankuro don't come by anymore because Rasa told them not to.'_

"Really? How do you know?"

' _Rasa doesn't want you to grow up with love, he wants an emotionless weapon. Without love, he wants you to be desperate for the slightest attention. He sees himself giving you that attention, making you loyal to him.'_

"Huh, some father he is."

' _Indeed, but you must realize he's doing it for the sake of the village.'_

Gaara frowns, staring down at his hands in obvious anger,

"Why do you support him? Why are you talking like Uncle?"

' _I don't support him, I'm only stating the facts. Rasa puts the village first, before his family, and whether or not that benefits the village is not for me to know. It makes him quite a brutal leader, not afraid of the bloodshed that comes from war.'_

"You seem to like logic and facts, Mother."

' _Indeed, lies are a distortion of facts and logic. I try to avoid them as much as possible. Well, in most situations.'_

"And I suppose withholding part of the truth is allowed?"

I clutch my chest as if it were stabbed by a stake...or knife, both work pretty well,

' _Child! I thought I taught you better than that!'_

Gaara turns to look at me,

"Yes, you taught me better than that. You taught that withholding the truth is perfectly acceptable and should be applied to all situations."

I wipe imaginary tears away as I fake sob on his head, the hair is super fluffy by the way~

' _I'm such a good parent!'_

Gaara sighs,

"Yes, yes you are. So can you push me?"

Sobbing not so fake tears now I stand back up to push Gaara's swing,

' _In another two years you'll have to join the Academy.'_

"You know that would never come to pass, the Kazekage will want to enroll me as quickly as possible."

A sigh escapes me, visiting the park was supposed to be fun, not depressing,

' _Yes, he would. Six years or five, it doesn't really matter. Heck, if he felt like it he'd enroll you right now.'_

"For the good of the village...he expects me to love a village that does not love me back." Gaara replies solemnly.

' _The very definition of an unhealthy relationship.'_ I say wryly.

Giggling and slightly surprised,

"Mother! No talking about _that_ kind of relationship when small children are in earshot!"

' _Oh? What about that kind of relationship between two "friends"? Is that considered inappropriate?'_

"We both know that wasn't what you were going for."

' _Ughh, how do you even know these things? You're four!'_

"By being alive. Around you."

' _Right, I forget how I can be…'_

"Mother! Are you sure that you're not going senile? Oh no! Whatever shall I do?!"

' _Insolent brats.'_

"Are you talking about me? I'm the perfect picture of innocence! I have absolutely no idea where you got that from."

' _I..I can't believe that I've taught you so well. Too well. Actually, there is no such thing as teaching you too well, just don't be stupid enough to be snarky when fighting strong and temperamental enemies.'_

"You think I will be fighting strong and temperamental people?"

'Madara, Obito, Kimimaro, Rasa….and Emo himself, Sasuke.' I think to myself, but I don't say anything out loud.

' _If you're going to be a ninja, which you are whether you like it or not, then there are going to be people stronger than you. That is a fact.'_

"Then I'll become the strongest."

' _That won't be easy.'_

"I know, but I'll become the strongest anyway."

' _You need a lifetime and more for that to happen, especially if you want to keep the title of strongest.'_

"So...immortality?"

' _And you are not going down that road.'_

"Why not?"

' _Bad things, very bad things. People have been consumed by their desire and because of that they've lost everything. The gods did not make us to be immortal and to seek it is going against human nature, it doesn't mix well.'_

"Oh."

' _But if you stumble upon it somewhere on your path then by all means take it before anyone else can~'_

"Alright!"

' _Just be sure that you want to live for an eternity and all the consequences that come with it.'_

"I'll be fine, I'll have Shukaku to bother...when I finally figure out how to talk to him. I'm not succeeding at meditation, like, at all."

' _Hmmm? You'll have me for an eternity too if you become immortal, I die when you do. And I'm not sure if Shukaku'll appreciate being stuck inside of you forever.'_

"By the time that happens we probably would have figured out a way to remove him without killing me, and if we haven't, we have the rest of eternity to do it."

' _Child, I'm not sure that you get what "immortal" means, because it certainly doesn't mean what people think it does. It doesn't mean you can't die, it doesn't mean that you're invincible, and it sure as hell doesn't keep you alive after the world blows up. Or when the universe ends. All it means is that it's rather hard to kill you and people are going to be upset about it. It doesn't even mean eternal youth.'_

Gaara makes a face,

"So I'm stuck hanging around as an super old man?"

' _Maybe, no human has ever become fully immortal before, not to my knowledge anyway. Plenty have tried and failed.'_

"You know people who have tried?"

' _Know of is a better term for it. Take Orochimaru for an instance, he's trying to be immortal, and failing miserably at the cost of his friendships and other people's lives.'_

"Oh...ok, no chasing foolishly after immortality and losing sight of what is most important."

' _Yup, now go ask those children if they want to play with you.'_

"Why?"

' _Because, you never know until you try.'_

Gaara looks apprehensively at the other children still playing in the courtyard, completely unaware that he was with them in the first place,

"They'll just run away…"

' _Hmm...you can use that sand armour thing right?'_

"Yes."

" _Well, have you ever tried using it to change your appearance? Because I'm pretty sure that sand is_ not _transparent to the point that it looks like you normally, without any distortion. Besides, if it were transparent, then it'd look like glass covering your entire body."_

"Huh, I never really thought about that. But it costs so much chakra!"

' _Count it as training, it's not as if you can stay too long anyway, just leave when you're running out of chakra or borrow some from Shukaku.'_

"But Shukaku-nii doesn't like to share, especially not his chakra."

' _HaHAha...Shukaku-nii? Oh this is too good..give me a moment.'_ I laugh, I don't know why Gaara has suddenly decided to call Shukaku "Shukaku-nii" but I suppose it fits in a way, ' _Alright, I'm better now. But you're right, Shukaku doesn't like to share, so just leave when you run out of chakra.'_

Gaara hops off the swing and looks around cautiously, using his sand armor is rather noticeable.

' _I can never get used to how weird it looks...I mean it's armor right? So what does it do about the eyelids? It would have to be pretty thick to protect anything, and eyelids don't cope well with that. And don't even get me started with hair, because getting sand stuck in hair is a horrible experience.'_

"Chakra?"

' _Chakra is an energy, not_ magic _!'_

"I honestly have no idea how that works actually. So, how do I look? Acceptable? Nondescript?"

' _Just fix the hair, I doubt anyone here has your shade of red hair. Make it brown or something.'_

After changing his hair color, Gaara walks over to the other children,

"Hi, can I play?"

They turn around and one of them speaks up,

"The ball is stuck, so none of us can play anything…"

The rest mutter unhappily,

"Yeah, and no one knows how to walk up the wall, and it's too hard to climb…"

' _Wait here Gaara, I'll be right back.'_ With that I float towards the ball and gave it a nudge in the right direction.

"Wow! It fell down by itself! Must have been the wind...so, do you know how to play?"

Gaara replies nervously,

"No…"

"Aww, dude, that's ok. We'll just teach you."

He smiles happily at them,

"Ok."

* * *

 **Yay! Gaara makes some friends!**

 **So, so sorry about the late update...(I have no excuses..)**

 **But, I'll try to update more T-T**

 **Reviews, Follows, and Favorites welcome! ( I try to answer all the reviews)**

 **Mizudoriko**


	11. Happy Belated Birthday Naruto!

**Disclaimer**

 **AN: I realized that I totally missed Naruto's Birthday! So this chapter pertains to his birthday.**

* * *

"So, you take this ball and basically throw it at people."

Thank you for the wonderful explanation.

Another kid laughs at the lackluster explanation,

"What Haru means here is that you throw the ball to people on your team and hope they catch it."

Oh, well _that_ is so much better! Keep on coming with the great explanations people.

Someone else pipes up.

"Daisuke's right, you just keep passing the ball around and try to get to the other team's base."

"And those are on opposite sides, so you have to make it through the other team before you can reach their base." Haru tries again, this time slightly flushed out of embarrassment.

"Yup! So when you score you get a point, and the team that has the most points in the end is the winner." The first kid adds on.

Gaara internalizes the information,

"Ok, I think I get it. So which team am I on?"

All the children seem to realize something as they look at each other awkwardly,

"A-ah...um, we have now an odd number of people. Er..what do we do now, Shura?"

They all turn to look expectantly at one of their members, he turns his gaze from them to Gaara,

"Oh? What do we have here?"

"W-we were wondering what to do since we'd have an odd number of people with him."

"Just put him on one of the teams then. And you didn't answer my question Yui."

Yui laughs awkwardly, a defense mechanism,

"H-hey Shura, no need to be so upset."

The one named Shura sighs his gaze still on Gaara,

"Why am I surrounded by such children?"

Gaara, confirms that he is indeed my child and "what do you mean that he's adopted?" with this,

"Maybe that's because they _are_ children, or are you blind to that fact? Let me enlighten you-" Here he points at himself, "- _I_ am a child, _you_ are also a child. That is, unless you are some sort of evil minion of the Kazekage who's under a henge or putting all of us under a genjutsu."

Shura and the rest of the children gape at Gaara as if he'd grown another head.

Then Shura starts laughing,

"Oh, this is too good. I've finally found someone among all of these children who can match my intellect. Or is it pure chance that you managed to sound somewhat smart?"

Never one to back down from a verbal spar Gaara snarks back,

"Too good? When did you ever think that I was on your level? Ore-sama doesn't have to rely on chance to be of superior intelligence to you."

I think he meant Shukaku by ore-sama...or maybe he's picking up Shukaku's habits.

' _Are you sure that you've never met Shukaku?'_

"Are you sure that you are of superior intelligence to me?"

The other children watch the exchange nervously as if expecting something to explode.

I suppose this Shura is their leader then.

"Positive." Gaara answers both of our questions.

Shura smiles, one full of teeth and saccharine innocence,

"My, my...full of ourselves aren't we?"

What Gaara does next has me howling with laughter,

"I agree, you are full of yourself, calling those that are the same age as you 'children'."

' _Good one child! Go show him who's the_ real _boss here.'_

Stunned silence overtakes the yard as Shura visibly struggles and fails to find a response to that,

"Maa, maa...it would seem that I have been bested. Very well, I'll solve your little problem here. You there, go join that team."

"B-but then that team would have five members and…?"

"My name is Karuma."

"And Karuma would be on the team of four…"

Shura gives the poor child a haughty answer,

"You forgot me, Daisuke. There will be an even number."

The others gaze at Gaara in awe, Shura probably never deigns them to be worthy of playing with,

"O-ok...Sure Karuma, you're with Shura, Haru, Hisoka, and Aiko. And I will be on the other team with Yui, Kin, Mitsuko, and Ryuuji..."

And so the afternoon is spent in the glaring sun chasing a little red ball around the opposite ends of the courtyard.

Gaara runs out of chakra near the ten-minute mark and takes his leave to wander back over to the swings. His excuse was that he has a weak constitution, and spends most of his time reading, giving him a reason as to which no one has ever seen him around the village.

Shura watches him with eyes narrowed as he explained this to them.

But he doesn't say anything.

He's a threat.

So I'll be keeping an eye on him.

When Gaara reaches the swings he quickly slips through the fence, peering cautiously behind him.

Shura is walking over to the swing area, it's obscured by a large and convenient rock so he doesn't see Gaara.

Said child pales and quickly squeezes out and drops the sand armor, walking away from where he had exited the courtyard.

"Hey! You there! Yes, you!"

Gaara stops and makes sure that his face is devoid of any emotion as he turns around to face the owner of the voice.

It's Shura.

"O-oh...It's _you_."

Teal eyes widen minutely, and there is a small intake of breath as Gaara waited, preparing for the worst.

"S-sorry...I mistook you for someone else. Hahaha...I'msosorrypleasedon'tkillmeImaybeanorphanbutIwannalivesodon'tkillmeplease?!" Shura bows deeply, his attitude doing a complete one-eighty.

Gaara deflates a bit, before fully comprehending what Shura just said.

He turns to me eyes questioning.

Me, being the sadist I am, understand completely and I nod.

He walks over to Shura, each step deliberate and slow.

Sand softly crunches underneath his feet.

Shura cowers.

Finally, he stands in front of Shura and pauses for dramatic purposes,

And then in a soft whisper,

"Boo…"

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Gaara frowns,

"Must you kill my ears? Now people will think that I've murdered someone."

Shura just stares back at him surprised at his petulant tone.

"Well, now that everything is ruined I may as well introduce myself properly."

A deep breath and then,

"My name is Gaara, it is nice to meet you."

"Dude, that sounds _so_ rehearsed." There is a gasp and Shura covers his mouth with both hands after realizing what he just said.

"I know, but it's not like I know anything else to say. Like how are you supposed to introduce yourself to the general populace of people who aren't socially awkward?"

Shura seems to be surprised,

"I have no idea either."

"Oh. Ok, let's be friends."

"What."

"I said, let's be friends."

"I know what you said, but why? Why me?"

"That's simple, Mother said that you make friends with people who are similar to you."

"Hold up just a moment, we are _similar_?"

"You said that you didn't know how to introduce yourself to the general public of non-socially awkward people. And I don't either, so we are similar."

"And that makes us friends?"

Gaara smiles cheerfully back at his new "friend",

"Yup! You're stuck with me now. So what do you say about going on an adventure?"

"Where to?" Shur asks, curious about the answer that the "demon" would give.

Gaara takes it as Shura's acceptance of the quest,

"Great now follow me!"

Sand envelopes a hapless Shura as Gaara turns around and starts walking again only to stop and ask,

"Ano...where will we go?"

And I feel that it his high time for me to intervene,

' _Gaara, remember when I told you about another friend that you'll make in the future?'_

"Yeah, the one in the stories?" Shura stills and watches Gaara warily, eyes looking for someone that's not quite there…

I intervene some more,

' _Well, let's pay him a visit, starting early never hurt anyone.'_

"Alright! To my other friend! Or is he my friend? I don't know since he isn't my friend yet…"

Aaaand Shura's true personality is revealed under the duress of potential death,

"Dude, who the heck are you talking to. And please, please don't say that it's a voice in your head or yourself because that would mean that you're crazy. You being crazy lowers my survival rate and chance of escaping this prison."

Gaara the sweet child that he is, just smiles at poor quivering Shura and says,

"My mother of course! And don't worry, you are going to stay put."

"Y-your mother?! Oookay, you are crazy."

"No, I'm not! She's right there!" Gaara point in my direction, Shura is not amused.

"That's just air!"

I am reminded of the time Rasa said almost the same thing,

" _I assure you Shura-kun, I am very much real."_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! It talks! The air talks! Now I know that I'm going crazy...Kami-sama help me!"

Wow, never knew that he had both brain and lungs, well I knew he had lungs...but those may even put mine to shame,

"SHUT UP! Sheeesh, it's like you didn't get the message of not killing my ears the first time. Oh wait, you probably didn't. Because you scream so much that you've made yourself deaf."

"Why is no one investigating this? I'm screaming very loudly dammit!"

"Maybe because they all left and holed themselves away into shelter far, far away from us?"

Unfortunately, people value their lives far more than they care about some poor orphan,

"Maaaan, they are cruel. Leaving a poor defenseless child to his fate?"

"Oh! So you admit to being a child!"

"What? No!" Denying something is not healthy...

"But you just did" Gaara points out innocently.

Hook,

"Arrghhh, just get going already. I thought we were on an adventure?"

Line,

"Yes we are, I just need to ask Mother where we are going."

And sinker,

"Then ask!"

" _We're going to Konoha."_

Please stand by, we must give the poor soul some time to recover from this grievous wound,

"What?! Ma'am that is across the whole freaking desert!"

" _Little children should not curse, and I know it's across the 'whole freaking desert' as you so aptly put it."_ I admonish him.

"I'm not a child!"

" _To me you are."_

"Good point." Shura concedes.

"Let's go!" And with that, Gaara walks towards Suna's gate.

"Dude, are you sure that they'll let you just waltz out the front door?"

"Umm…" We look at each other, clearly making up plans on the fly is not our forte.

"I take that as a 'no' then. Go to the northeast edge and climb up the cliff there or something, that'll take us out of Suna." He knows that telling us this is potentially shortening his lifespan, right?

"Thanks!" Chirps Gaara happily, doing a fifty-degree turn to the left.

"Why am I helping you again?"

"Because we are friends and you are awesome?"  
"Sure kid." When will he get rid of that superiority complex? One of these days *caugh*today*caugh* it's going to get him killed.

"You're the same age as me."

"You are four, right?"

With that, Shura puffs out his chest or tries since the sand doesn't care too much about giving his chest the room for anything other than shallow breaths.

Speaking of which, how has he not passed out from oxygen deprivation and is still talking?

Oh well, we can just go with chakra this time,

"I'm six next month."

"Oh, ok…"

"You're just going to let that go?"

Surprised that the "demon" is capable of letting go of petty arguments?

"Yeah, age before beauty Shura-chan!"

Here we are, the northeastern wall of the village.

Technically, it's a cliff face, but everyone just calls it a wall.

Semantics...

"What?!"

"So that means you go first!" And with that, Gaara flings Shura, still in his sand cocoon towards the patrolling ninja.

"Dude! Why?! What have I ever done to you?!"

"Just kidding!"

Gaara sprints away from the protective walls of the village and out into the desert with Shura in tow while simultaneously burying the shinobi head first into the sand.

That should buy us some time.

Until the Anbu arrive.

Then, the real fun begins.

"Here we come Konoha! And Naruto-kun too!"

"Shut up! If we want to leave we have got to be sneaky and yelling isn't sneaky!"

"Speak for yourself, Old Man!

Arguing like an old couple I see.

Yes, they shall become great friends, maybe Gaara's childhood won't be limited strictly to me, Yashamaru, and his siblings liking him.

"I'm not old, brat!"

And at this he retorts,

"See? You talk like an old man!"

"No comment."

Too easy, kid. Try again, you are just setting yourself up to be thoroughly grilled over a medium low flame here.

But this is Suna we are talking about,

People here don't get grilled, we roast.

Get _roasted_ ,

"But that is a comment."

"Oh, just shut up!"

"I thought that you were begging me not to kill you earlier? It's still not too late to offer yourself up as a sacrifice to Jashin-sama. Actually, I'd need three sacrifices, one for Jashin-sama 'cuz he's a god and two for Shukaku-nii 'cuz he's the definition of awesome."

"You call the bijuu Shukaku-nii?" Disbelief is laced through Shuras incredulous response.

"Yup!" Was the overly cheerful reply.

"Man, you have a dysfunctional family."

Gaara sighs sadly as if pondering his life choices,

"I know, you tell me about it."

To which Shura is not amused and deadpans,

"I don't have a family. I live in an orphanage for Kami-sama's sake."

"Oh, then I'll tell you about it myself."

"Don't."

Said child ignores his newfound friend's request and continues on,

"Too late. So you know how the Kazekage is my father? Well, throw that out the window, he's just the donor of half of my genetic material. I have three siblings and the eldest is Shukaku-nii! He's always with me and that is why he's the best ever!" He pauses to catch his breath. "Temari-nee comes after in age and she is pretty badass too, and Kankuro is my other brother. I don't know where to put him so right now he's the spare."

"You call your brother a spare?" More disbelief

"Well...I really have nowhere to place him and he can only have one role…"

Aaaand Kankuro has been denied...pity the cat ears would have been a wonderful addition,

"Kami, that is just so messed up." Great way to sum up all of our lives in one sentence, Shura.

"Yeah, that is why we are dysfunctional. Anyway, unless I reassign Shukaku-nii...oh! I know, I can make him my new dad! Dad, not father 'cuz father sounds icky and so not cool. So he could be my new dad and then I'd have a Mother, a Dad, an older sister, and a brother who's no longer a spare!"

Shukaku?

A dad?

No way is that working...in fact he's probably screaming bloody murder for that slight.

Gaara probably doesn't mean what he says about Shukaku as a dad figure, but Shura's reaction is more than a little amusing,

"Dear Kami-sama, please strike me down now. I am stuck behind a crazy demon who is convinced that the Ichibi is his father and talking air is is mother, the only normal people in his family is his brother and sister."

Me? Talking air?! Excuse you!

"Hey! It's dad, not father. Father belongs to the icky Kazekage! And I have more than two 'normal' people in my family. He's my uncle Yashamaru."

Come on! At least say something about the injustice that has been done to me, reducing me to mere _talking air_!

"Three? How nice. NOT!" Ouch, three is a nice number, stop being mean.

Right there and then a squadron of Anbu land, stopping the four of us in our tracks,

"Gaara-sama, please return to Suna."

Gaara frowns while Shura nearly sobs in relief,

"Thank you! Finally, get me out of here, please!"

"No"

"Dude, what did you just say? We're going home."

"I said no, and Suna is not my home."

Shura is confused, stumbling over his words,

"Wh-what do you mean not-mean Suna's not your home?"

And that sets everything up perfectly for awesome sayings that sound super creepy when a four year old recites it back at you:

"Home is where the heart is. My heart is not in Suna, literally and metaphorically since I am outside Suna's walls."

"T-then where is home?" You should learn that your mouth will be the end of you...and are the Anbu just going to stand there?

"With me. I love only myself. So I am my own home, wherever I am and wherever I want to be is home."

Hey! You love me right?! I vow to thoroughly question Gaara later about his comment, but right now, I'll just sit back and enjoy the show.

Or float on my back, that works too,

"So your home is Konoha?!"

"Yes."

"You've never even been there!"

"Gaara-sama, if you do not turn around now we will have to take you back by force." The Anbu have finally regained their boring voices, how wonderful!

"If you even touch me I'll kill him."

Shura pales,

"H-hey! Don't joke with my life like that!"

"Who said I was joking?" Cool, the kid is completely serious about this. I guess he really isn't all that invested in Shura.

"M-man, y-y-you w-won't kill me right?"

"..."

"D-don't just l-look at me l-like that.."

Gaara turns around and looks pointedly in the other direction.

I can't believe that the Anbu are not realizing what is happening right under their feet.

Gaara's chakra, what is left of what he borrowed from Shukaku, hides deep underground.

And guess what is underneath the Anbu?

Sand.

They probably have a sensor with them, but I don't think they expect him to pull anything after finding and cornering him.

With a sudden spike in pressure, the chakra tears through the golden granules and wrap themselves around the Anbu tightly.

"Sen to Hitotsu no Itazura Geijutsu: Hiding Annoying People's Heads in Sand Like an Ostrich no Jutsu!"

There they go~!'

One by one, the Anbu are buried bodily and headfirst in the sand.

Shura breaks out laughing at the sight in the background as Gaara takes off running towards Konoha again.

It's a wonderful day to be alive…

Because it's October tenth~!

What better way to celebrate it than trying to visit Naruto in Konoha?

We're definitely not reaching Konoha this year though.

The Anbu have already gotten themselves out of the sand.

Too bad, we do have many more years to go…

 **Omake: This is why Gaara should NEVER be taught seals**

It's a beautiful day outside in Konoha and the third and final stage of the Chuunin exams have already taken off.

And then, it happens.

The fight that they have all been waiting for:

Suna's Seal Master and the Kazekage's son: Gaara versus the Last Uchiha: Uchiha Sasuke

"Ready?! BEGIN!" The proctor drops his arm in a swift decisive motion as the crowd roars its approval.

Gaara looks up at the sky, seemingly nonchalant,

"Huh, the weather here is nicer than it is in Suna, don't you agree Sasuke-chan?"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT YOU BASTARD! BE HONOURED THAT YOU ARE A STEPPING STONE TO DEFEATING MY BROTHER!"

The red haired jinchuuriki tilts his head back down to look at his opponent, surprised,

"Hey, I'm sorry about that. I didn't know that you had a brother complex, an inferiority complex, and a superiority complex all bundled up into emotional baggage."

Sasuke turns redder and redder until he resembles one of his beloved tomatoes,

"Y-you….."

Gaara is now panicking,

"A-a-ahh, you lost your voice...should I get a medic?"

"NO!" Sasuke yells while stabbing a Chidori in Gaara's direction.

Said person dodges while happily exclaiming,

"Oh, you found it again."

"BASTARD!" This, of course, does not make Sasuke's mood any better.

So he lets loose a fireball.

Gaara blocks it with his sand while he admires the shower of molten glass flying everywhere.

Oh well, there goes his ultimate defense...

"Can't you find something else to scream? And you are going to lose your voice again if you keep going on like that."

Sasuke, who had been triumphant earlier now finds the tables turned when he finds out about Gaara's awesome taijutsu skills,

"I DON'T CARE!"

"B-but, I thought we had a good relationship…"

"SHUT UP AND HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST ATTACK!"

Sasuke really shouldn't have said that, not with the dwindling reserves of his chakra.

But like they say, "pride comes before fall".

And he is going to fall.

Hard.

Or actually, get buried.

Along with the rest of Konoha.

Two years ago…

* * *

"Hmmm? So if I plant these seals here and activate that one all sand in the near vicinity would get sucked into a pocket dimension and then be immediately transported to here?" Gaara muses as he plants another one of his new inventions on the ground.

"It does seem to be the case-"

"GAARA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

He pales,

"Ohhh...Temari-nee found out about that. Dammit, I threatened Kankuro with decapitation this time too! Why can't he keep his mouth shut?"

Another scream is heard in the distance.

"I suppose big sisters are just that scary, Well, gotta go fast!"

"Where do _you_ think you are running off to, Otōto?!"

And so Gaara continues running from an angry Temari while planting many of his new seals.

She chases him all over Suna.

He plants said seals all over Suna.

* * *

And now~

"You wanted my best attack? I'll show you the fury of Suna!"

Gaara thinks that the name is both accurate and cool, Temari was chasing him while he planted those seals after all.

Sand erupts from the seals on his palms.

And it keeps going.

And going.

It just doesn't stop.

You see, Suna is built in the desert.

Deserts usually contain a lot of sand.

Suna is no exception.

So all the sand surrounding and under Suna is pulled out and dumped onto a once jubilant Konoha.

Or rather, what is left of it.

"Hey?! Where did Konoha go?"

"Sasuke?"

"Anyone?"

"No?"

"Ok, I'll just leave."

And so he left.

And went back to Suna.

Much to his dismay, he couldn't find it no matter how hard he looked.

Suna had long crumbled into itself from the lack of support from the sand underneath it and the desert simply swallowed what remained of the village.

That and Gaara took a mini vacation about two years long to go visit Mizu...he heard that the fish there was great.

And so Gaara become one of the most feared nuke-nins in history.

He destroyed two villages.

Fast enough to make Pain cry in frustration.

So the Five became Three.

And Gaara wanders the world happily oblivious but slightly perturbed that he still couldn't find Suna.

But he thinks that they may have just hidden away to keep him out.

They are a Hidden Village after all.

So he goes back to Mizu to enjoy the sushi that he had acquired a taste for.

All was good.

Then Temari and Kankuro finally dig their way out of the sand in Konoha, which is now a desert by the way, ready for some revenge.

* * *

 **AND CUT!**

 **We have here another chapter done~ And an Omake to make up for the temporary Hiatus...though nothing will really make it up to you guys.**

 **Karuma: This is not a mangled version of Kurama, it means Karma.**

 **Sen to Hitotsu no Itazura Geijutsu:** **One thousand and one pranking arts (Yes, there are a thousand and one)**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Mizudoriko**


	12. NOTICE

Hi all! I know that I've been gone for like...foreverrrrr. But I'm am tentatively back now!

Do to all of the support for Mother! (I'm an awful person and I put things off way too long and probably would have abandoned the story if y'all weren't so awesome) I've decided to rewrite it.

Like.

It's very different.

Plotwise.

This is because I finally decided to come back to it one day and found that I don't actually like how it was written as much as I used to sooooo.

Yup!

Feel free to ask me questions about it and give suggestions, etc.

It's called Mother!(rewrite) if anyone wants to check it out.

Thanks!

s/13295104/1/Mother-rewrite


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